Fuel stocks drop again - NZ told to ‘keep calm and carry on’
Wednesday, 22 April 2026
Fuel stocks have dropped again in Wednesday’s update - and once again, MBIE is telling New Zealanders the change is “the sort of variation we would expect to see when international shipping is operating as usual, without the current Middle East situation”.
Nevertheless, all fuel types are down at the count taken at 11.59pm on Sunday, April 19.
For petrol, there are 51.2 days on hand - 29.5 in country, 15.1 days on ships within New Zealand’s territorial waters, and 6.6 days on ships outside this country’s economic zone (EEZ).
That’s down from Monday’s 54 days of petrol on hand, which was down from 56.3 days of petrol available in the stocktake before that.
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For diesel, today’s stock take shows there are 41.6 days on hand - 21 days worth in the country, 12.4 days on ships within New Zealand’s EEZ, and 8.2 on waters outside the EEZ.
That’s down from 44.8 days worth reported on Monday, and 45.4 days the stocktake before that.
While diesel stocks were down, the stock in country and within this country’s EEZ was “almost as high as it has ever been since the Middle East conflict started”, MBIE said.
“There is also a ship currently loading diesel in Singapore and this will be on the way to New Zealand shortly.”
Jet fuel was up at Monday’s stocktake, at 51.4 days. This time, it has dropped, to 47.4 days - 26.1 days in country, 1.5 days on ships in the EEZ, and 19.8 days on ships travelling to New Zealand.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment said the latest update shows national fuel stocks “remain stable with sufficient stock levels across petrol, diesel and jet fuel” and “movements remain within expectations and show normal patterns”.
The Government agency said the country could expect fuel stocks to decline over the next few weeks as fuel tankers were on the way to New Zealand to replenish them.
“This is normal and is how fuel companies manage their daily business, with fuel distributed around the country and then replenished by incoming imports. Fuel tanks are not kept at 100% capacity all the time.”
Nevertheless, there are fuel issues upstream that may interrupt the smooth flow of fuels to New Zealand, including a notification Kuwait gave to its oil refining customers in the weekend that it would be calling “force majeure” on some of its contracts. This means it would not necessarily be able to honour its supply contracts because of circumstances outside of its control. That was not only the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, but also extensive damage to the nation state’s three major refineries.
Bahrain and Qatar have also declared force majeure concerning their oil production and sales as well. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have not so far, but are reported to be taking steps to curb production and shipments.
All players supply South East Asian refineries, which in turn supply New Zealand.
This country’s next fuel stocktake is due on Monday April 27.
New supplies
Minister of Finance Nicola Willis was asked about the fuel update after it was made public, specifically whether or not she was concerned about the supply of diesel.
She said she was not, given stocks were almost at as high as they had been at any time during the Iran war.
“What's really important - what we're monitoring is - ‘are we still getting the amount of ships coming to replenish those supplies?’ And we are.
“We've also had assurances from fuel companies that their order books are full through to the end of May, and that they're having no challenges placing future orders in June.”
The Government was also receiving intelligence that where refineries in South Korea and Singapore lacked feedstock from the Middle East, they were increasingly sourcing oil from the likes of West Africa, the US, and Brazil, in sufficient quantities.
“All of that combined means that we won't be doing a formal assessment of our response phase,” Willis said.
The Minister pushed back on the idea of targeted relief for fuel purchases, as prices soared.
“I think that every New Zealander would love it if I could come in and make the price of petrol cheaper tomorrow. That's what they want. I think they also realise that I face a real dilemma, which is that I don't have access to a magic money tree forest, and that any money that I spend now I have to borrow, and New Zealanders need to pay back.”
She said she was taking a “responsible course”.
“This is a very challenging time for many Kiwis. I utterly appreciate that. I'm with them - I want fuel price relief immediately. Unfortunately, delivering that requires decisions from Donald Trump, Iran, Israel … and I don't think they'll be listening to the New Zealand Minister of Finance any time soon.”