Petrol, diesel prices up again

[MotherBear]

Motorists hit at the pump again
Tuesday, 08 July 2008

Petrol and diesel prices have jumped 6 cents a litre at outlets for the four major retailers.

Caltex resisted the jump on Monday morning but joined Shell, BP and Mobil at $2.19 for 91-octane and $1.92 for diesel by the end of the day.

AA spokesman Mark Stockdale said the increase was due to crude prices rocketing to more than $US140 ($NZ187) a barrel last week.

"While the crude price remained high rather than just being a spike it was inevitable that would eventually be reflected in the refined price."

Mr Stockdale said crude had risen by $US5 a week for the past two weeks.

"A $5 increase equates to about 6 cents at the pump."

Caltex spokeswoman Sharon Buckland said the refined price of 91 had gone up $NZ11 a barrel since mid-June while diesel rose $16.60. "We had a little bit of respite at the end up June, and we absorbed that price, but it's since gone back up and looks like it's stabilising."

"Diesel is rising on a dramatically higher tangent than 91. It will be (mostly) driven by demand out of India and China, because the construction machines are all diesel and there's a big diesel stockpile building in China. The demand is huge.

"In the last week diesel's gone up $11.68."

Gull general manager Dave Bodger said prices rose 2 cents a litre on Monday to match a similar rise introduced by the other companies last week.

"We haven't actually held our prices today but we haven't gone up by the 6 cents."

His company was selling 91-octane at $2.12 and diesel at $1.83.

"For this year we have almost always been under our opposition. It is extremely unlikely we will move tomorrow," Mr Bodger said.

Mr Stockdale said, as usual, motorists should keep an eye on prices and shop around for the best deal.

- NZPA

From here.

[MotherBear]

Petrol to hit $10 a litre within a decade - report
12:25PM Friday July 11, 2008

An Australian report released today says the price of petrol could hit A$8 ($10) a litre within the next 10 years.

The prediction from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation comes as the price of oil jumped back up today to US$142 a barrel and petrol prices on this side of the Tasman sit at record levels.

Researchers for the Future Fuels Forum, which works with major private and public bodies in Australia, looked at the likely effect of rising oil prices, potentially dwindling oil stocks and emissions trading schemes.

They found there was likely to be a shift to hybrid cars and other forms of fuel as petrol soared to the A$8 a litre mark.

The current price of 91 octane petrol in inner Sydney is around A$1.67 ($2.12) a litre, while prices in new Zealand's main centres are around $2.19.

Dr John Wright at CSIRO said: "The Forum believes Australia's fuel mix will shift in the near term to include the expanded use of diesel, gaseous fuels such as LPG and hybrid electric vehicles, with even greater diversity beyond 2020 that might include hydrogen, synthetic fuels from coal or gas and advanced biofuels that will not impact food production.

"Securing access to affordable and sustainable fuel underpins Australia's economy and way of life and as a nation with relatively high vehicle use, we are vulnerable to the economic, environmental and social impacts of rising oil prices and rising temperatures,"

The report, called 'Fuel for thought - The future of transport fuels: challenges and opportunities', looked at the need to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles and how to deal with "increasingly costly and scarce oil supplies".

"The future price of oil is uncertain," Dr Wright said. "The Forum's scenario modelling shows that if oil production peaks, prices could climb as high as A$8 per litre by 2018 in the most extreme case."

He said people on low incomes were most likely to be affected and that such prices could force early action on alternative fuels.

- NZ HERALD STAFF

From here.