[ Last Updated 15 June 2010 ]
Short Description
Daily and weekly average prices of crude oil, petrol and diesel.
The charts, downloadable below, show daily and weekly average prices of crude oil, petrol and diesel, and quarterly comparison of petrol price and taxes in OECD countries. Prices are weighted daily averages in nominal New Zealand cents per litre and take into account $NZ/$US exchange rate movements.
In order to provide weekly updates, the New Zealand petrol and diesel retail prices in these graphs are based on limited monitoring of service station forecourt prices by the MED. As such, they do not reflect all the variation due to regional pricing differences and discounts available to bulk diesel customers.
A more detailed analysis of the "importer margin" is carried out by the Ministry each quarter, using national average price data from Statistics New Zealand. This is published in the annual Energy Data File.
The data used was sourced from the following organisations: MED, US Energy Information Agency, Argus, Hale & Twomey, Pricewatch and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.
Graph 1 shows the changes over the last two years of the two main determinants of oil-based fuels in New Zealand: the price of crude and the exchange rate. The exchange rate is NZ$/US$ and the price of crude is given in both US dollars per barrel and NZ dollars per barrel. The data points are non-weighted weekly averages.
Graph 2 shows the daily importer margin for regular unleaded petrol over the last two years. The importer margin is the difference between the retail price less taxes and levies and less the importer cost. That is, it is the margin available to the importer to cover domestic transportation, distribution and retailing costs, as well as wholesalers' and retailers' marketing margins. The importer margin is lagged by one week, i.e. we assume that retail prices this week are based on the importer costs of last week. Statistical analysis has shown this to be a reasonable assumption. The importer cost is based on the Singapore benchmark petrol price plus an estimated quality premium and an assessment of the importation costs of freight, insurance, losses, and wharfage. The importer costs have been sourced from Hale & Twomey's Fuel Price Monitoring. Hale & Twomey use industry standard pricing benchmarks to build up the importer cost.
Graph 3 shows the daily importer margin for regular unleaded petrol for the last ten days. It uses the same data and methodology as that shown in Graph 2 which shows the daily importer margin for regular unleaded petrol over the last two years. The importer costs have been sourced from Hale & Twomey's Fuel Price Monitoring. Hale & Twomey use industry standard pricing benchmarks to build up the importer cost.
Graph 4 shows the daily importer margin for diesel. It follows the same structure as Graph 2, with the importer costs sourced from Hale & Twomey's Fuel Price Monitoring. Hale & Twomey use industry standard pricing benchmarks to build up the importer cost.
Graph 5 shows the daily importer margin for diesel for the last ten days. It uses the same data and methodology as that shown in Graph 3 which shows the daily importer margin for diesel. The blue band on this graph represents the range covered by the middle 50% of all margins in the last year (i.e. the inter-quartile range). The importer costs have been sourced from Hale & Twomey's Fuel Price Monitoring. Hale & Twomey use industry standard pricing benchmarks to build up the importer cost.
Graph 6 shows the make up of the retail price of regular unleaded petrol. The graph breaks the retail price down into taxes and levies, importer cost, and importer margin. The importer cost is based on the Singapore benchmark petrol price plus an estimated quality premium and an assessment of the importation costs of freight, insurance, losses, and wharfage. Assumptions for the quality premium (US$4 per barrel versus US$1 per barrel) and importation costs of freight have been revised back to 1 January 2008 in light of recommendations contained in New Zealand Petrol Review (www.med.govt.nz/nzpetrolreview). MED uses the price reporting agency Argus for the benchmark Singapore petrol price. The importer margin is calculated by the Ministry as the retail price less taxes and levies, and less the importer cost. That is, it is the margin available to the importer to cover domestic transportation, distribution and retailing costs, as well as wholesalers' and retailers' marketing margins. The importer margin is lagged by one week, i.e. we assume that retail prices this week are based on the importer costs of last week. Statistical analysis has shown this to be a reasonable assumption.
Graph 7 is the same structure as Graph 6, except that it focuses on diesel. No revision for the quality premium for diesel (US$0.5 per barrel) has been made in light of the New Zealand Petrol Review
Graph 8 compares the petrol price and tax over OECD countries. These prices are sourced from the IEA on a quarterly basis.