Dozens of service stations across Australia have run out of gas as dealers struggle to keep up with panic buying from customers as the conflict in the Middle East continues to disrupt prices.
The NRMA warned that regulators “missed” an opportunity to stop price increases as booming wholesale demand pushes fuel prices to a “permanent high” on the East Coast.
The New South Wales government said 32 of 3,000 service stations in the state were out of at least one type of fuel on Monday morning, but enough to leave cities with just one station out of fuel.
Premier Chris Minns said New South Wales had enough fuel but was struggling to distribute it to regions as motorists stockpiled it at their local stations.
“It’s harder to refuel those gas stations if they have more than expected in the tank on a given day,” he said.
Victorian Farmers Federation president Brett Hosking said entire towns had dried up, including Wedderburn and Bonnie Doon in the center of the state, and Robinvale in the northwest.
“(Tankers) will find some fuel stations that need fuel very close to Melbourne and will probably empty their truck there and then come back for another load,” he said.
“How can you ensure that when there are 100,000 urban motorists shouting, saying ‘we need fuel too,’ how can you guarantee that that (tanker) truck will continue to pass by them?” he said.
The federal government has allowed fuel companies to temporarily sell lower quality gasoline and release about a fifth of their mandatory reserves, prioritizing regional Australia, but ruled out fuel rationing.
Hosking said he did not trust companies to prioritize deliveries to the regions and called for rationing to be considered even if limiting purchases was difficult to enforce.
In Western Australia, two service stations in the town of Manjimup were sold out on Friday, while industrial fuel suppliers limited sales to 10,000 liters per customer, according to local county president Donelle Buegge.
“Independent (broadcasters) are probably making it a little difficult,” Buegge said. “BP is doing well, but Dunning’s and United seem to be having problems with their fuel supply.”
Regional and independent stations had reported difficulties accessing fuel after suppliers Ampol, BP, Mobil and Viva Energy prioritized supply to regular customers, cutting off smaller groups that buy fuel on the spot market.
According to NRMA spokesman Peter Khoury, some independent suppliers had also stopped offering fuel they could no longer afford as wholesale prices rose and matched the recent rise in retail prices.
Retail prices for homes and businesses would remain at near-record levels in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, which Khoury attributed to stations raising prices early in the conflict.
“We are now at a permanent high point … in those three cities,” Khoury said.
“The opportunity to crack down on that behavior and just get them to at least maintain their price, we missed.”
Unleaded petrol prices topped 230 cents a liter in Darwin on Friday and in Melbourne on Sunday, and continued to approach that mark in other capital cities, according to Informed Sources data.
The shortages also hit urban retailers – a 7-Eleven in Canberra ran out of fuel over the weekend. Customers at the Holt store were told that the shortage was due to sudden bulk purchases, and that restocks would continue as scheduled and were expected Monday night.
Another 7-Eleven in Phillip, Canberra, is running out of stock and customers have been told stock could run out on Monday night.
‘Serious dysfunction’
Calls for stronger interventions have grown as shortages hit more cities. The NSW government held crisis talks with fuel suppliers and key industries on Monday, as industry bodies agreed to share more information with the government so fuel could get to where it was needed most.
NSW Farmers president Xavier Martin, who attended Monday’s roundtable, said food production was at risk as “serious dysfunction” left farmers, towns and cities without fuel.
“Tractors and trucks run on diesel, not gasoline, and a lot of attention has been paid to gasoline… those combines need thousands of liters a day.”
Stuart King, mayor of Swan Hill Rural Council, said Robinvale was full of seasonal grape and almond harvest workers, traveling up to 100 kilometers a day to reach the farms.
“If you don’t have fuel, you can run out of gas pretty quickly, which means you won’t be able to go to work,” King said.
The shortage had spread to other small towns, while stations in the regional town of Swan Hill had prevented people from filling jerry cans or mobile fuel tanks, King said.
King called for the fuel tax to be reduced, as it would in 2022, saying prices in his area had risen 30% in a fortnight. He said he had heard of locals who had postponed trips to visit relatives in Melbourne and were forced to abandon the city’s major winter sports leagues.
“I’ve talked to some young people over the weekend and they said… ‘I don’t think I can afford the trip and I’m already maxed out, so maybe I’ll just work on Saturdays instead of playing sports,’” King said.
“That then becomes a cumulative effect on the well-being of the community.”
Rising prices will have the biggest impact on the lowest-income households, which spend about 10% of their income on gasoline, according to an analysis by the e61 Institute.
However, a fuel tax cut would provide greater benefits to high-income households, who buy almost twice as much as the lowest-income fifth of Australians, but are more insulated from higher prices. The federal government has also ruled out changes to excise taxes.
