NZ petrol and jet fuel stocks down, diesel up, according to latest MBIE update
Wednesday, 25 March 2026
New Zealand’s fuel stock levels didn’t change much late last week, but that may change over the next fortnight with a relative lull in the volumes of fuel arriving by sea.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) reported today that there were just under 49 days’ worth of petrol, and just over 46 days’ of diesel and 43 days’ of jet fuel in New Zealand or on ships bound for the country as of midnight on Sunday.
In the case of petrol and jet fuel that was down by about a day from the last update which covered the period up to Wednesday midnight, while diesel stocks have risen by about a day since that update.
MBIE said fuel supply remained within “normal levels”, but stock levels look set to dip lower.
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The latest update shows there is relatively little diesel or petrol due to arrive in the country over the 14 days to April 5 — less than six days’ worth of petrol and just over seven days’ worth of diesel over period.
MBIE did not sound any alarm bells over that, saying fuel companies had told it there were “a healthy number of ships on [the] water or planned for later in April”.
“We are not yet experiencing the types of sustained supply disruption that would justify emergency measures under the National Fuel Plan,” the ministry said.
“Fuel supply was inherently dynamic, with stock levels fluctuating week-to-week” and fuel importers had not reported any “issues with future shipments”, it said.
“The data released today shows minor changes in stock levels and reflect normal patterns of consumption and shipping, not signs of supply disruption”, it said.
MBIE will provide the next update on March 30.
Fuel plan update coming Friday
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon refused to respond to questions from Labour about what the triggers would be in the National Fuel Plan for rationing and new alert levels, saying all would be revealed on Friday.
'We are taking the development of a National Fuel Plan very seriously, and we will outline our approach to that on Friday,' Luxon said.
Finance Minister Nicola Willis told reporters this would include: “What does that framework look like? What are the different phases of response that the Government envisages? What would be the triggers to move to additional measures? How would ministers assess that? How would they make those decisions? How would they work with the industry to make those things happen?”
The price of petrol and diesel at the pump has continued to creep up, reflecting a steep increase in the cost of refined fuel sold by Asian refineries.
According to price comparison site Gaspy, the average price of 91 is now a fraction of a cent under $3.40 a litre, while diesel is selling for an average of just over $3.28 a litre.
That is up $1.01 and $1.60, respectively, on their average prices 28 days ago, shortly before the Middle East conflict began.
Data from the Australian Institute of Petroleum indicates the cost to importers of buying 95 Octane petrol from Asia has increased from about A$115 a barrel to A$210 a barrel over the period, while the benchmark price of a barrel of diesel has jumped from about A$130 to about A$315.
In-country stocks of petrol, diesel and jet fuel — ignoring fuel on inbound ships — totalled 24½ days, 18 days and 20 days according to MBIE’s latest update.