Current New Zealand petrol and diesel prices, tracked weekly from MBIE data. Shows the national average pump prices for regular unleaded, premium 95, and diesel, plus a 5-year trend chart and a breakdown of what makes up each litre of fuel.
Pump price trend — last 5 years
What you pay per litre — latest week
Breakdown shows the components of each litre in NZ cents. Importer cost reflects the wholesale price MBIE calculates from Singapore benchmarks and freight. Taxes include fuel excise duty, GST, and the Emissions Trading Scheme levy. Note: MBIE temporarily suspended importer cost and margin estimates in March 2026 due to global market volatility, so these components may not add up to the board price during the 2026 fuel crisis.
Understanding New Zealand Fuel Prices
Every litre of petrol or diesel you buy at a New Zealand service station is the end point of a long and complex supply chain. The price you pay is made up of several components: the cost of the refined fuel itself, the importer’s margin, taxes, and retail margins. When one of these components moves sharply, the pump price moves with it.
The dashboard above shows the national average pump prices (what MBIE calls “board prices”) for the three main transport fuels, updated weekly from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s monitoring data. It also breaks down what portion of each litre is importer cost, margin, and tax.
Why Prices Have Risen So Sharply
The dramatic spike visible in the 2026 section of the trend chart reflects the Strait of Hormuz crisis that began in late February. With the narrow waterway through which roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil normally flows effectively closed to commercial shipping, global oil prices have risen sharply. Asian refineries that supply New Zealand have been scrambling to source alternative crude oil, pushing up their production costs and therefore the wholesale prices they charge New Zealand importers.
Diesel has risen faster than petrol during this crisis. Diesel is used more heavily in jet fuel production globally and in industrial applications, so when refineries are forced to choose what to prioritise, diesel supply becomes particularly tight. The upstream supply chain pressure on New Zealand’s fuel is severe precisely because the country imports 100 percent of its refined fuel from Asian refineries that are themselves under strain.
What Makes Up a Litre of Fuel
Of every dollar New Zealanders spend on fuel, a substantial portion goes to the government in taxes. Fuel excise duty is charged on petrol at a rate that is then used to fund the National Land Transport Fund, which pays for road construction and maintenance. Diesel is not subject to fuel excise duty at the pump — instead, diesel users pay Road User Charges based on the weight of their vehicle and the kilometres driven. GST applies on top at 15 percent, and the Emissions Trading Scheme adds a small levy to both fuels.
The remaining portion of the pump price is split between the cost of the actual fuel itself (which MBIE calculates based on Singapore benchmark prices and freight costs) and the importer’s margin, which covers wholesale distribution, retail operations, and profit. During the 2026 Hormuz crisis, MBIE temporarily suspended publication of its importer cost and margin estimates because the rapid price movements made the methodology unreliable, so the breakdown above may not add up to the full pump price during this period.
How This Compares Historically
New Zealand petrol prices have followed a broadly rising trajectory over the past decade, driven by a combination of rising global crude prices, a weakening New Zealand dollar, and periodic tax increases. The 2022 Russia-Ukraine fuel shock caused a brief spike that was partly mitigated by a temporary fuel excise duty cut, which was reversed in 2024. The 2026 Hormuz crisis has pushed prices well above even the 2022 peaks, particularly for diesel, which has roughly doubled in a matter of weeks.
For context on New Zealand’s fuel security situation, how the country came to be entirely dependent on imported fuel, and what options exist for reducing that vulnerability, see our long-form analysis New Zealand’s Fuel Security Explained.
About the Data
Data on this page is sourced directly from MBIE’s Weekly Fuel Price Monitoring dataset. MBIE collects and publishes national average pump prices every Wednesday for the preceding week. The data on this page is updated weekly by an automated process that fetches the latest CSV from MBIE and refreshes the charts. Prices shown are national average board prices (the advertised pump prices at service stations), not actual transaction prices, which may differ due to retailer-specific discounts and loyalty programmes.