Short-term fuel shortages lead to big-time headaches in leadup to Christmas

Sunday, 17 December 2017

Motorists may have trouble finding a fully-stocked petrol station during the next few weeks.

Petrol stations around the country are running out of fuel, and it is unclear if the rolling shortages will be fixed in time for the big Christmas getaway.

Fuel terminals in Auckland, Napier, Wellington and the South Island have lower stocks than usual, due to the sustained warm, dry weather and ongoing issues with the leaking Northland pipeline that had to be shut in September.

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For the past week, motorists have reported having problems buying petrol and diesel at fuel stations across the country.

In response to frustrated customers posting on Facebook, Z Energy said there would be rolling shortages of diesel and 95-octane over the next couple of weeks. It is unclear how many petrol stations are affected.

'New Zealand has plenty of stocks, they're just not in all the right places,' the company said on Facebook.

'The combination of higher-than-usual seasonal demand, a temporary shutdown at the [Marsden Point oil] refinery and the ongoing effects of the [refinery to Auckland] pipeline (RAP) issue from earlier this year, have created a few supply problems.'

The 170-kilometre pipeline connecting the refinery at Marsden Point to Auckland was shut down for 10 days after a leak was discovered on September 14. The Government has announced an inquiry into the outage.

On Sunday, a Z Energy spokeswoman said the company expected most of the short-term outages to stop in time for Christmas.

She emphasised there was no shortage of fuel, 'rather it has been particularly difficult to get it to where it is needed most'.

'This logistics challenge in getting more fuel from ports to service stations will result in some service stations running out of some fuel varieties in the short term.

'These shortages will be occasional and won't last long as we work to replenish stocks as soon as possible. Service stations that run out are usually replenished within a few hours.

'The situation is changing all the time.'

A BP spokeswoman said there had been no 95-octane fuel at four BP sites – three in Auckland and one in Hamilton. The company planned to have them back online as soon as possible.