Iran war: Fuel deal misses announcement deadline set by Christopher Luxon

Monday, 20 April 2026

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s promise that an announcement would be made on potential commercial deals to secure more fuel by today has fallen through.

His office confirmed to The Post no announcement would be made on Monday despite Luxon saying last Monday the public would hear more within the week.

“I think within the next week, we should be in quite a good place with some of the negotiations,” Luxon said last Monday

And when Newstalk ZB asked last Monday if the announcement would be “within a week” Luxon replied “yes”.

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But the prime minister’s office has now refused to nominate a day for any announcement, saying to do so would prejudice ongoing negotiations. It has confirmed it would not be Monday.

However Finance Minister Nicola Willis said a deal to obtain extra diesel could be expected shortly.

On March 30, Willis announced the Government was “urgently progressing” commercial assessment of those proposals.

The proposals could involve the Government working with industry partners to deliver additional fuel from offshore to manage the risk of a shortage of supply.

“An insurance policy, if you will.”

She said the Government has already been approached by some parties with unsolicited proposals to increase supply.

Speaking to RNZ from the US last Friday, Willis said the deal would be a 'similar commercial arrangement' to one pursued by Australia.

Australia is underwriting the delivery of fuel in a deal where the petrol companies still buy it, but the Government takes on the financial risk of shipments.

The Government has been tight-lipped about the potential deal. Willis’s office would not confirm last week whether she had participated in any discussions with commercial partners or even if any of the potential deals had progressed to Cabinet.

“As ministers have previously said, officials are progressing discussions with fuel suppliers about potentially procuring additional fuel stocks. These are commercially sensitive discussions so there isn’t anything further that can be added at this point.”

Willis and Associate Energy Minister Shane Jones’ office would not share any details about the announcement.

Petrol and diesel stocks dropped again in Monday afternoon’s fuel stocks update, although jet fuel stocks are on the up.

For diesel, there are 19.5 days’ worth on land, 10.8 days on the water within out EEC and 14.6 days on the water outside our EEZ, a total of 44.8 days worth. That is a slight decrease from 45.4 days of diesel in the last count.