About fuel supplies in South Australia
The war in the Middle East has disrupted shipping of oil through a sea lane that normally carries about 20% of the world’s supplies. While shipment tracking indicates ongoing supply arriving in Australia and South Australia over the coming weeks, concern about supplies has resulted in some fuel users buying more diesel and petrol than usual. This new demand is resulting in localised shortages, which can be seen in some petrol stations without stocks of some fuels (referred to as 'stockouts'). Seeing and hearing about these stockouts can drive demand as some road users then buy more fuel than they normally would, reinforcing the original problem.
Fuel continues to arrive in the quantities we expect, and there is enough fuel to meet everyone’s usual needs. But because some areas are experiencing a disruption in the supply chain and fuel prices have been higher than usual - governments are taking action to ease costs and shore up supplies.
What the Australian Government is doing
The Australian Government is:
- temporarily lowering national taxes on fuel
- increasing the availability of supplies by changing laws and regulations
- making sure that service stations and the oil sector are acting in customers’ interests
- planning ahead so that if the situation becomes more difficult the nation is prepared.
What the Government of South Australia is doing
The Government of South Australia is helping by:
- monitoring and reporting fuel station supplies through a partnership with the RAA
- working with business and industry groups to identify economic impacts on fuel-exposed sectors
- implementing regulatory reforms to improve the efficiency of freight, such as recent reforms to heavy freight regulations allowing trucks to carry larger payloads per trip
- establishing a strategic diesel reserve of 10 million litres at Port Bonython, with the option to secure and store up to 20 million litres if required.
How you can help
You can help by continuing to only buy the fuel you need, when you would normally buy it.
You can report service stations that don’t meet their obligation to change their pricing on fuel watch apps within 30 minutes of changing their pump price. This will help to keep competition in the fuel sector strong.