RAROTONGA (Pacnews) — The two oil supply companies in the Cook Islands have increased fuel prices following an increase in cost of petrol and diesel re-exported from Fiji.
BP Oil company has increased its fuel prices on Monday this week in response to a fuel price hike by Mobil Oil.
Businessman, George Ellis, who deals with BP Oil, said the new prices reflected increases in the cost of petrol and diesel imported from Fiji.
He said fuel prices registered a 7 cent increase for the months of April and May, reflecting the increases in cost of delivery from Fiji for the two months.
According to a Price Tribunal order issued last week, the maximum price per liter for petrol is now 80 U.S. cents, up from 64 cents. Diesel is 73 cents a liter, an increase of 10 cents.
Although the price increase came into effect last Friday, the island’s major Mobil outlets did not immediately apply the new price.
Although they applied for an increase in fuel price in the past two months to reflect the increase in import charges, the increases have only been approved by the Price Tribunal lately.
According to Ellis, rival supplier Mobil Oil applied for a an increase in the price of fuel back in April—a request which the Price Tribunal did not act upon until last week.
Ellis said a rise in the value of New Zealand dollar against the American dollar was not enough to offset the increase in the cost of oil, caused largely by the Middle East crisis.
“The cost ex-Fiji went up, and now we have to charge more, or we’d be making nothing. The current level is just about right.”
Ellis said it was unfair to compare the cost of fuel in Rarotonga with the cost in New Zealand, as fuel supply was a “totally different scenario” there.
Earlier this year Ellis said the price of fuel to the Cook Islands was affected by economies of scale and the cost of transporting it from Singapore to Fiji, storing it, and then shipping it to smaller countries around the Pacific.
He denied claims by some critics of the price increase that while petrol prices here rise quickly in response to market fluctuations, they seldom fall.
“The price of petrol came down in February,” he said. “Who knows—with a bit of luck it might come back down again soon.”
