KEY POINTS:
New Zealand's dominant fuel retailers followed BP's lead today and added 5 cents a litre to the price of petrol and diesel.
The cost of petrol is now rapidly approaching the $2 a litre mark, with the four main companies selling 91-octane for $1.94, and diesel also spiking 5 cents to $1.62.
Independent fuel company Gull again bucked the trend by holding 91-octane at $1.89 and diesel at $1.57 at most of its 30 outlets.
General manager Dave Bodger said prices would be re-assessed mid-morning tomorrow.
"There have been significant increases in replacement costs in the last few days and that has compounded with a fall in the value of the dollar," he said.
"But we need to see that that is a sustained increase rather than having a knee-jerk reaction to a big change in a couple of days."
AA spokesman Mike Noon said price rises appeared to be justified because of the falling dollar and rising cost of crude, and urged people to shop around.
BP led by shifting prices up yesterday, but its three main competitors, Shell, Mobil and Caltex did not follow suit until today.
"Perhaps you might want to reward those places who haven't put their price up," Mr Noon said.
- NZPA
