Liam Dann: NZ Herald business editor at large on oil prices slumping to their lowest level all year

Global financial market turmoil overnight has come with a silver lining for motorists as oil prices have slumped to their lowest level this year.

Cheaper petrol at the pump should follow in coming days after Brent Crude Oil fell 5 percent to US73.74 - a price not seen since mid-December 2023.

NZ Herald business editor at large Liam Dann unpacks the economic factors behind the slump.

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The price of oil talking about things that actually really matter,
is the lowest in a year and a half. Brent
crude is currently sitting at seventy two US dollars forty
five cents a barrel. Liam down as The Herald's Business
editor at large and with us Now, Hey Liam.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Good a, Heather. Yeah, nice to have a bit of
good news.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Oh you mean it's obviously not benefit.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Yeah, no, no, I think about the price of petrol
at the pump this weekend.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
Actually, what's caused the price of oil to come back
like this?

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Yeah? Well, I mean, you know, I don't want to
dig too deep because it might kill the good news
vibe around it. But a couple of things. US economy
is so that sell off on markets Tuesday overnight Tuesday
took oil with it. So concerns about the US economy
usual thing. Markets came down a bit and oil went
but then some other things. So there was a bit

(00:47):
of concern about China. You've got some geopolitical stuff happening.
You've got Opec plus has been talking about pushing up
supply again, and they might get cold feet or they
might go through with it, but you know, they're talking
about bringing back on a whole bunch of supply they
took off earlier in the year, and that would put
down with pressure on the price. And also some weird

(01:08):
stuff happening in Libya, so that's had all sorts of
political turmoil, and there was some talk that they might
have got themselves a central bank governor who was you know,
it was very complicated stuff. But it was a trigger
for the sell off on Tuesday night and it went
again on Wednesday night. So there's been been a bit
of downward pressure for a month or so and you
might have noticed. People might have noticed that at the pump.

(01:30):
But the good users, I think, you know, we've had
another you know, five percent or so come off in
the last day or two, so I think we should
be driving into some lower prices for Saturday and Sunday.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
I like what you did there. So we haven't got
the cheaper prices yet, we have to wait for the weekend.

Speaker 2 (01:46):
Well, if you look back look at gas b the
you know, the consumer petrol website that says that the
average price of only to ninety one has come off
about five or six percent fifteen cents in the last
twenty eight days. But I don't think that that's the
retail price and it won't catch that that fall of
the last few days. So you know, the other factor
you've got to throw in there is the ki Kiwi

(02:08):
dollar versus the US, but it's it's look, it's about
the same as it's been for for some time. So
I think that being stable, you know, fingers crossed that
you know, the petrol companies do the right thing and
the price comes down.

Speaker 1 (02:22):
Here, Liam, thank you, appreciated, look after yourself. Liam Dan,
the Herald's Business editor at large.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
For more from Heather Duplasy Allen Drive, listen live to
news Talk said Be from four pm weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.