More good news

Fuel prices have been on a steady decline in the last few weeks. For the first time in quite a while, the price of 91 octane fuel has dropped below $2/litre; the Dom-Post quantifies the savings:

Motorists are saving an average of $8 each time they fill up their car compared with just a month ago, after petrol prices were slashed again.

From a recent peak of $2.20 a litre in May, unleaded 91 petrol plummeted to $1.99 at the major national petrol station chains yesterday, with family-owned Gull undercutting them at $1.95.

The cuts came in response to Brent crude oil falling to a six-month low of US$92.33 a barrel.

AA Petrol Watch spokesman Mark Stockdale said further petrol price falls could be coming.

"The fuel price cuts are coming thick and fast. The latest decreases, while welcome, really reflect last week's commodity prices, and since then they've fallen again.

"If you do need to fill the car up, you should take advantage of that lower price but don't panic – if you want to wait till next week you may save even more money." 

This is good news all around. Fuel prices are a major cost on households and businesses, so a drop on average of $8/tankful is a real saving. 

Our businesses run a small fleet of cars, and off the top of our heads, we'd guess that each is fuelled up every week to ten days. When a tankful of gas that cost $75 last month is suddenly down around $67 (and falling!), that's good news for the bottom line, and less stress for our business banking manager worrying about our line of credit.

These things are cyclical of course, and it probably won't be long before the Brent Crude price rises again. But we should all enjoy a bit of relief in the meantime, and there's something psychological about seeing those signs outside the petrol stations with a 1 in front of them, rather than a 2.