Oil Companies Seek Petrol Price Rise

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31540, 30 November 1967, Page 1

Oil Companies Seek Petrol Price Rise

lNew Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, November 29. Petrol and oil prices could be increased before the end of this year as a result of devaluation of the dollar if negotiations by the oil companies with the Government are concluded soon.

It is believed that the oil companies have already lodged with the Government an official claim for price increases. But all the Acting Minister of Industries and Commerce (Mr Shelton) would say in an interview tonight was:

“We are discussing the effects of devaluation on the prices. It is obvious that petrol prices have to increase some time, and it is a question of when and by how much.” Mr Shelton said that any decision by the Government on petrol and oil prices would be withheld until the Minister of Industries and Commerce (Mr Marshall) returned from overseas late next week. Devaluation has meant that the crude oil from which New Zealand’s petrol is refined will cost 19.45 per cent more to buy because it is imported from countries which have not devalued. A spokesman for the Automobile Association said tonight that his organisation estimated an increase of 2c or 3c a gallon might be needed to pay for the devaluation loss. Petrol prices were last increased in New Zealand on September 22, when they rose

by 1c as a result of increased freight rates after the closure of the Suez Canal. That cent Increase was to have been a temporary measure, but it now seems likely to remain. The Government has increased the tax on petrol twice this year, and it is on this basis that retailers are asking for a rise in their profit margin. In spite of the tax increases their margin of 4c a gallon on both premium and standard grades has not been lifted.