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Gull Petroleum has sparked another war at the pumps today with its 12-hour price cut for motorists stung by the latest general rise.
The family-owned West Australian company cut petrol and diesel prices by 5c a litre at 7am at most of its 30 outlets - all in the North Island - as a temporary respite from last week's 4c industry-wide hike.
That pulled the price for 91-octane petrol at most Gull stations down to 150.5c a litre, and to 94.9c for diesel, and to even lower levels at a handful of outlets in provincial centres.
Shell responded by saying it was reducing its price by 6 cents a litre from 7am to 7pm and Mobil and Caltex matched that drop.
Gull also increased its price cut by another cent.
Automobile Association general manager motoring affairs Mike Noon said motorists should seize the moment to fill up as the indicators were prices were being driven by competition, not a drop in costs for the petrol companies.
"If you were thinking about filling up, today could be a good day to fill up," he said.
A similar marketing ploy by Gull just over a fortnight ago prompted matching cuts by its four multinational rivals, showing high sensitivity in an industry sometimes accused of taking excessive profits.
If the larger companies fail to match Gull today, its diesel will be more than 7c cheaper than the industry standard, as it increased its price last week for that fuel by just half of the general 4c rise.
Gull is also taking credit for reversing a general price rise just before Easter, and stalling any further movement until late last week.
New Zealand regional manager Dave Bolger said the company had even then managed to resist raising prices for a day later than its larger rivals "until we couldn't hold out any longer".
He said the extra custom expected today made the latest price cuts affordable.
"We want to be known for putting good deals out there."
But whether or not the other companies follow, today's cuts are unlikely to be extended.
This is because of cost rises for both refined fuel imports and crude oil, which was yesterday hovering above US$68 ($92) a barrel after sharp increases caused by investor anxiety over an alleged foiled plot to attack Saudi Arabian production facilities.
