KEY POINTS:
The Automobile Association is calling on petrol companies to drop fuel prices by up to five cents a litre by Monday.
AA policy analyst Mark Stockdale said the Singapore benchmark price, coupled with the exchange rate has given petrol companies enough of a margin to pass on savings to motorists.
However petrol companies do not agree. Gull general manager Dave Bodger said he was optimistic of a drop but not yet. "We had a look yesterday, there wasn't that chance there but we're looking two or three times a day at this point in time to see if we can do something," he said.
He said he did not have the figures in front of him so could not say if diesel had come down overnight.
Mr Bodger said if prices continued to fall then the savings would be passed on.
BP spokeswoman Diana Stretch said it would be a "hell of a stretch" for fuel prices to drop.
She said the international price of refined petrol had decreased by just over 70 New Zealand cents a litre since July, while pump prices had decreased by 79 cents and when the GST was taken out - that translates to a 70 cent drop. "That shows the decrease is clearly passed on," Ms Stretch said.
But Mr Stockdale said petrol companies should respond to Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard who called on petrol companies, among others, to drop prices further and "play their part" yesterday.
