Gull Takes on Fuel’s Big Four

By CUMING, Deborah

Savvy Waikato motorists are filling up at discount petrol outlet Gull which is again undercutting the major petrol retailers by up to eight cents per litre.

At 7am today the price of Hamilton’s cheapest fuel dropped 5 cents from $1.82.9 to $1.77.9 for 91, and to $1.43.9 for diesel. The special price is available until 9am tomorrow.

The drop makes Gull Norton Rd at least eight cents cheaper than the four major petrol companies – BP, Mobil, Caltex and Shell. There was a steady stream of motorists pulling into the forecourt this morning.

“I heard about it on the radio and thought I would come down,” Dinsdale man Clayton Knox told the Times. “I usually come here anyway because it is always cheaper, so when I heard it was down this morning I came to fill up. Why wouldn’t you?”

Yesterday BP increased its cost of 91 octane to $1.88.9 a litre. A random check of Caltex, Shell and Mobil stations by the Times this morning showed their prices were still sitting at $1.85.9 across the board. BP’s 98 octane is at $2.02.9, while its diesel is also up to $156.9, compared with $1.51.9 at other fuel companies.

Another customer at the Norton Rd pump, Kevin Ball, said he always chose Gull. “The thing is when some companies up their prices it takes three or four days before Gull does so you have that time to fill up – and it is still cheaper anyway.”

Gull general manager Dave Bodger said the company was holding its prices for the sake of its customers. “It’s not customer focused to move prices at this time if it can be avoided.”

Mobil’s Alan J Bailey defended the price of fuel being the same everywhere else in the city, saying they were all subject to the global price of petroleum products and other factors like the exchange rate.

“Sometimes the competitive market behaviour is such that prices are held down below sustainable levels and we lose money on the fuel we sell.” He said it was unlikely the price of fuel would come down soon.

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