Z Energy is rejecting MBIE's claim it's pocketing more profits from rising fuel prices

New Zealanders are feeling the pain at the pump, with prices the highest ever.

Provisional data from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, shows most of the rise is made up of increased importer margins.

Z Energy chief executive Mike Bennetts says crude prices are at a seven year high, due to tight supply and a potential war in the Ukraine, a gas production centre.

He says the company's margin in the December quarter was just one cent a litre higher than the previous quarter.

Bennetts also says MBIE's figures are only a sample of what happens across the country.