Iran war: Fuel run hits NZ, Pak’nSave pumps run dry
Friday, 20 March 2026
Motorists are reporting that some petrol stations are running out of fuel amid growing anxiety over rising prices.
Pak’nSave Petone — which usually undercuts the oil majors — confirmed on Friday afternoon that it was out of petrol.
Price comparison site Gaspy reported it was advertising 91 octane petrol at $4 litre, with a dozen users of the site confirming that, but the store confirmed it did not at the moment have petrol to sell.
Pak’nSave Masterton’s self-serve fuel station ran out of 91 and diesel before lunchtime on Friday. A Foodstuffs spokesperson told the Wairarapa Times-Age that Pak’nSave Masterton had experienced temporary outages of 91 and diesel on a small number of occasions, because of a spike in customer demand.
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RNZ reported this afternoon that Pak’n Save Kilbirnie in Wellington was out of 95 and 91 petrol, but 98 and diesel were still available, and that Pak’n Save Upper Hutt had also run out of 91.
There have been reports of a number of petrol stations temporarily running out of fuel over the past week or so.
New Zealand’s fuel stocks are assessed as 51.3 days worth of petrol (between what is held on land and what is in transit to New Zealand); 47.1 days worth of diesel, and 49 days of jet fuel.
These are still healthy levels of petrol, diesel and jet fuel, Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Associate Energy Minister Shane Jones said on Wednesday.
Stefan Herrick, Foodstuffs' head of external communications, said fuel deliveries to New World and Pak'nSave sites were continuing as normal.
“However, some sites have experienced higher-than-usual demand in recent days, which has meant they’ve temporarily run out ahead of scheduled deliveries.
“There are no changes to fuel discount vouchers at this time,” he said.
“We continue to closely monitor demand and co-ordinate with our supplier partners, who are working hard to keep up with increased demand, to maintain continuity at all sites.”
AA policy manager Terry Collins said he was aware of reports from social media but it was “not unexpected and not the end of the world”.
Current shortages reflected people “rushing to fill up and corrupting the normal pattern” of the petrol stations being refuelled, he said.
“It is not a sign we are running out of fuel.”
Data published by the Australia Institute of Petroleum (AIP) indicates the benchmark price at which petrol companies can buy unleaded petrol from suppliers in Asia has doubled to about A$235 a barrel since the joint US and Israeli strikes on Iran.
The benchmark price of bulk diesel is up about 150% since the conflict began to top A$320 a barrel, it reported.
According to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, the price of imported fuel itself accounted for about $1 of the cost of litre of both petrol and diesel before the conflict.
The price increases reported by the AIP indicate that would have increased to $2 and $2.50 respectively since then.
That would suggest the price of both petrol and diesel could move up to about $3.50 a litre, if current import costs are sustained.
Fuel is currently selling for less, however.
Many petrol stations were selling 91 for between $3.15 and $3.26 litre on Friday, with diesel commonly priced at, or just below, $3.