KEY POINTS:
Family-owned Australian oil company Gull Petroleum enticed its multinational competitors to chop New Zealand petrol and diesel prices briefly again yesterday, after having put the brakes on pre-Easter rises.
Gull's announcement of a 12-hour fuel price cut of 5c a litre at most of its 30 service stations in Auckland and other North Island centres from 7am prompted Shell, and then the three other big oil companies, to fall in behind quickly.
That cut the price of 91-octane petrol to $1.47c and diesel to 93c for the day at most main-centre pumps.
Shell said its offer would expire at 7pm, the same time as Gull's. Caltex announced a 24-hour cut from yesterday morning and BP said its discounting was "indefinite", but Auckland service stations under both those brands raised their prices last night, soon after Shell and Gull went back up.
Gull's New Zealand regional manager, Dave Bodger, had previously indicated another possible cut this morning if he found any competitors on lower prices, saying, "We are not going to penalise our customers".
But that now looks unlikely.
The Automobile Association was pleased the cuts were national and not just an Auckland-only response to Gull's lead as happened over about a fortnight until last week.
Aucklanders had a price advantage of 5c a litre over the rest of the country then, provoking criticism from the AA and motorists who suspected the oil companies were cross-subsidising activities in the northern market.
Mr Bodger said last week he did not have the "luxury" of charging motorists higher prices outside Auckland.
At that point, he was busy applying the brakes to price rises by the other companies of 6c in Auckland and of 2c elsewhere, which would have put motorists back on a level - if costlier - footing at $1.58c for 91-octane petrol.
AA spokesman Mike Noon said he had no doubt Gull had spared motorists considerable extra travel costs over Easter by forcing the big companies to bring their prices back down nationally to a common base level.
BP spokeswoman Dianna Stretch said prices were not reflecting imported product costs, which had risen by $5 a barrel of refined petrol since mid-March - when 91-octane was selling at the pumps for $1.56c.
Although relief over Iran's release last week of its British naval hostages offered a brief respite for world prices after several weeks of rises, she said, these had climbed again because of a supply squeeze caused by such factors as reduced United States stockpiles and concern at Tehran's declaration it had begun enriching uranium.
Mr Bodger acknowledged the international cost pressures but said Gull's customers were helping the company to keep prices down by going out of their way to give it extra business.
"People are really supporting us - we've had people waiting in lines and turning up with jerry cans." He said South Islanders had sent emails asking when Gull was heading south.
Petrol prices
* Gull cut prices by 5c yesterday.
* Other companies followed but prices returned to normal last night.
* Further cuts today now look unlikely.
