Sophie Matehaere fills up Her vehicle as they line up to refuel at Northgate Waitomo as petrol prices might increase on Thursday. Photos: Peter Mcintosh. Motorists should keep an eagle eye out for the best deals on petrol, as the AA is expecting significant increases at the pump over the next month. AA policy analyst Terry Collins said while motorists had had a bit of an easier time recently, as the world order settled again, the United States government’s announcement it would close the Strait of Hormuz and resume attacks on Iran meant things would become dicey again. ‘‘It’s not as severe as it was when conflict in the Persian Gulf first started. When it first started, nobody was predicting it and so it caught hundreds of tankers in the Gulf that couldn’t transit it. ‘‘But I looked on the tracking systems last night and it was 45 tankers. That’s one and a-half percent of a Dover tanker fleet. That means the other 98.5% can go somewhere and get oil.’’ This meant it was a demand, not a supply, situation for oil abroad, Mr Taylor said. ‘‘The other problem is that we’ve got the Russians [who] have banned diesel exports and they’re the second-largest exporter of diesel. ‘‘So what does it all mean collectively? It means that you’re going to see some prices go up over the next few weeks.’’ At the height of the US conflict with Iran a couple of months ago, there was a big disconnection between the price of oil, which was the normal indicator, and the price of the refined product. ‘‘We’re starting to see already refined product, the cracking spread, to jump up again. And so that indicates that there’s going to be some demand, particularly for diesel, and the pricing will be a bit of risk.’’ He could not say how much prices were likely to increase, but an indicator was the rise to well over $3 for a litre of 91 during the early stages of the conflict. ‘‘So I’m guessing the price will be closer to $3 than $2.50.’’ In the meantime, he advised drivers to keep a watchful eye on prices at the pump. Vehicles line up to refuel at Northgate Waitomo as petrol prices might increase on Thursday.
