Fuel shortage fears hit Wairarapa’s cheapest station

Friday, 20 March 2026

Soaring prices and high demand for fuel have hit Wairarapa’s cheapest petrol station, leaving drivers scrambling elsewhere.

Pak’nSave Masterton’s self-serve fuel station ran out of 91 octane and diesel before lunchtime on Friday.

Motorist Nick Kelly said he was trying to fuel up when he noticed nothing was coming out of the nozzle.

He then saw the signs indicating that 91 octane, along with diesel, was temporarily out of stock.

Although he had plenty of petrol in his two cars, he was keeping them topped up because of rising costs.

Another motorist, Michael Wilson, said it was pretty inconvenient and had forced him to find somewhere else.

“When there is no fuel, the whole economy comes to a grinding halt,” he said.

Barbara Nightingale, who had travelled 22km from Mauriceville to fill up at Pak’n Save in Masterton, said she was a little surprised by the situation.

“Potentially we’re all doing the same thing and panic-buying,” she said.

She had brought her petrol can to fill her lawnmower, but with supplies limited it would remain empty.

Although her lawnmower was already half-full, Nightingale said she had hoped to top it up completely because of rising prices and the risk of shortages.

A Foodstuffs spokesperson said Pak’nSave Masterton had experienced temporary outages of 91 and diesel on a small number of occasions, because of a spike in customer demand.

“During each of these occasions, 95 has remained available on site.

“These outages have been short and occur only when demand exceeds forecasted volumes ahead of scheduled deliveries.

“We’re seeing strong demand at a number of our fuel sites, particularly where pricing is highly competitive locally.”

The spokesperson said customers at Masterton had been understanding, and while demand was higher than normal, the company had not seen panic-buying behaviour.

Pak’nSave stores sell fuel on behalf of their fuel supplier, which is responsible for setting retail pump prices.

The largest fuel price increases in Wairarapa this week were at GAS Carterton, which had risen 12% since Monday; Challenge Carterton, which was up 11.7%; and Caltex Chapel St, up 10.9%.

Most other stations saw moderate increases of between 2.5% and 7%, indicating a noticeable midweek surge in prices.

The only station where prices decreased was BP Martinborough, down 2.18%.

On Friday, the fuel price comparison app Gaspy showed the cheapest price in Wairarapa was at Pak’nSave Masterton, on $3.077 a litre.

The most expensive was at BP Masterton, on $3.379 a litre.

Petrol prices on Friday

Data from the Gaspy app comparing 17 Wairarapa stations, in NZ$ per litre:

• Pak’nSave Masterton – 3.077

• Mobil Adamson’s Service Station – 3.089

• Allied Tom Wilson Motors – 3.139

• BP Martinborough – 3.139

• Gull Chapel St – 3.159

• Challenge Masterton – 3.169

• Waitomo Masterton – 3.169

• Mobil Kuripuni Service Station – 3.179

• Mobil Express Faulknors – 3.189

• Z Waka Oriori (Z Masterton) – 3.259

• Mobil Western Auto Mart – 3.259

• Challenge Greytown – 3.299

• Challenge Carterton – 3.349

• GAS Carterton – 3.359

• Caltex Chapel St – 3.359

• Caltex Solway – 3.359

• BP Masterton – 3.379.