Source: Radio New Zealand
Cars in a queue for petrol at Tasman Fuels in Epsom, on Sunday 8 March 2026. RNZ / Luka Forman
Petrol stations across the country are seeing a surge of drivers filling up as tensions in the Middle East push the global oil prices higher.
The benchmark Brent Crude rose 18 percent or by US$18 to US$110 a barrel shortly after trading resumed this morning at 11am NZT.
Over the weekend, RNZ spoke to drivers queuing at a petrol station to get in before the price goes up.
“The later I leave it, the more the petrol prices are going up. This is more expensive than yesterday,” one woman said.
“Probably the price will go up again tomorrow, I think, so even I’m only half full, it’s good to get some petrol in there,” a man said.
Waitomo Group chief executive Simon Parham told Morning Report the demand at the company’s petrol stations went up 15 to 20 percent over the past week as people tried to get in before prices increased.
“Over the last week, we’ve seen the Singapore Platts price go up by about $60 a barrel.
“I’ve been doing this for 25 years and that’s probably one of the biggest spikes I’ve seen.”
Marika Khabazi
Parham said prices would move more in the next week and fuel supply was being managed carefully.
There was 20 days stock in the country and cargo was arriving by ship every other day, he said.
“I think we’re in a reasonably good place. It’s a good reminder that over 80 percent of the supply doesn’t go through the Strait of Hormuz.
“There’s other actions out there globally, such as the US, softening the sanction on India to enable them to buy Russian crude. That will help the market and help supply free up a little bit.”
Parham said his advice to customers was to not panic buy, but to look out for a good deal.
“There’s always a good deal on any given day. Don’t get distracted by someone offering a 10 cent per litre discount.
“It’s the net price, which is the true test of competitiveness. So go out there, look around, use Gaspy, there’s tools out there, so look for the best deal.”
Earlier, Mike Newton from Gaspy told First Up the queuing at petrol stations over the weekend was similar to when a fuel brand ran a big discount day.
He said the higher cost was mostly done to companies pricing in future oil increases that they were expecting.
“They won’t be buying their oil at these high prices just yet, but they know that if they put the prices up once they start buying it at those higher prices then it’s going to be a massive shock to the consumer,” he said.
“They try and just briefly increase it and make it a bit more palatable to the consumer.”
He said the prices were standard across the board, but they did notice that diesel was going up faster than the other grades of petrol.
AA Transport policy advisor Terry Collins told Morning Report companies were also raising the prices to manage the risk.
“Hopefully, when the prices drop, they’ll likely come down as fast.
“We don’t want to have what is known as the rocket and feather effect when, due to these geopolitical events, the price rocket up and then when it subsides and the price of oil comes down, we don’t want to see the prices come down like a feather.
“We want to see them equally come down as fast as they went up.”
Collins said he wasn’t worried about shortages at this stage.
He said that was dependent on how long the conflict lasted, and how long the Strait was closed for.
His advice to motorists was to fill up a full tank because he expected an upwards trajectory in prices for the rest of the March.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
