The Commerce Commission has today released a preliminary issues paper for the retail fuel market study.

The paper seeks responses on questions raised in this paper from industry participants and other interested parties. This will assist the Commission in its study into factors that may affect competition in the supply of retail petrol and diesel.

The paper sets out the proposed scope of the study and seeks views on preliminary issues that may be affecting competitive outcomes in the retail fuel sector, which the Commission expects to explore during the study. These issues are not exhaustive and include:

• trends affecting the fuel industry – changes in market structure, prices and margins and profitability
• issues relating to the supply chain – exploration and extraction of crude oil, refining, primary distribution, storage, secondary distribution, wholesale supply, and retail
• issues relating to non-price factors such as quality, innovation and product range.

The preliminary issues paper features a series of questions that the Commission is seeking responses on, ideally backed by supporting evidence.

Interested parties are invited to provide written submissions no later than 5pm on Thursday 21 February 2019.

A copy of the issues paper can be found on the retail fuel study project page.

Background

In December 2018 the Commission commenced a market study looking into the factors that may affect competition for the supply of retail petrol and diesel used for land transport throughout New Zealand.

The purpose of the study is to consider and evaluate whether competition in the retail fuel market is promoting outcomes that benefit New Zealand consumers over the long-term. The study is focused on the supply of retail petrol and diesel for use in land transport. We will not be evaluating fuel markets such as aviation or marine.

The terms of reference for the study can be found here.

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