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Motorists may escape petrol price hikes today after oil prices dipped overnight.
A record surge late last week saw motorists rush to fill up their tanks after crude oil rose 8 per cent to a record US$139 ($183.44) a barrel.
But fears 91 octane could hit $2.10 a litre yesterday did not come to pass, with major oil companies waiting to see what happened last night.
Companies held prices steady yesterday in the hope that the latest rises would turn out to be a "blip".
And overnight, oil prices fell around US$4 to US$134.
At one point last night they had fallen on the Singapore market by US89c to US$137.65 a barrel, having risen as high as US$139.12 in Friday trading.
New Zealand oil companies said they would be watching the Singapore market - where New Zealand buys its refined fuel - very closely when it opened yesterday evening.
They would not say when prices at the pump might rise in response to last week's record surges, or by how much.
"It's going to happen, but we haven't made a decision about when," said Gull spokesperson Ulrik Olsen.
"If the price comes back tonight, then it was just a blip overnight."
"At this stage we have not made the decision to move," said Caltex spokesperson Sharon Buckland.
"The market is extremely volatile and we're working without any certainty."
Prices at BP and Shell service stations were unchanged yesterday at 2.009c a litre for 91 octane.
Soaring fuel costs around the world will be high on the agenda at the G8 summit of industrialised nations next month, with Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd already urging other G8 leaders to put pressure on oil producing nations to increase supply.
Yesterday, ANZ bank economists called for the Government to ease motorists' pain with a temporary cut in petrol excise tax of 10c a litre.
"You're not going to change the trends [of rising oil prices] but it will iron out some of the extreme movements,"said ANZ chief economist Cameron Bagrie. At the moment, motorists pay about 40c a litre in petrol excise.
Mr Bagrie said a 10c reduction would not seem much to consumers, but it might be enough to stop inflation hitting "tipping point".
At present, inflation is managed by the Reserve Bank using the Official Cash Rate.
But Mr Bagrie said policymakers could ill-afford to let the Reserve Bank manage the triple challenge of a falling housing market, global credit crunch and rising food and fuel costs alone.
"We're really walking a tight-rope here.
"You can't just expect monetary policy to fly solo."
He said Government tax cuts were "very encouraging", but with the Reserve Bank talking about cutting interest rates while inflation was high, more help was needed to boost the economy.
"You raise a few eyebrows if you're looking at cutting interest rates when inflation could be above 5 per cent."
In February, former Reserve Bank Governor Don Brash suggested the bank be given the power to vary petrol excise to control people's spending - a plan that was criticised because it would give tax-setting powers to a non-elected official.
Finance Minister Michael Cullen ruled out suggestions of cutting petrol tax, telling Radio New Zealand's Morning Report programme Government revenue was already dropping as people reduced spending on petrol and other goods.
Mr Bagrie yesterday admitted there was a risk cutting excise tax would spark a wave of calls for other temporary tax cuts.
"I would be dead against cutting GST because the cost in terms of efficiency in the tax system would far outweigh the benefits.
"I don't see those downsides with cutting petrol excise tax."
AA spokesman Mike Noon said the Government needed to make sure it was "fair and square" with motorists.
The AA has called for the GST component on petrol excise to be removed, a move that would reduce prices by between 5 and 6 cents a litre at the pumps.
"At the moment we are paying a tax on a tax," he said.
