Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has sought to reassure Australians that the country’s fuel supply remains “secure” as prices surge and reports emerge of panic buying and petrol stations running dry since the start of the Iran war.
“The longer this war goes on, the greater the impact will be. But we continue to act to prepare and shield Australians from the worst of it,” Albanese told reporters on Friday.
Rising fuel costs are affecting households, businesses, and transport operators across the country. Truck drivers and motorists have reported being stranded, while companies warn that higher operating costs are threatening their viability.
The government has stressed that shortages are the result of demand and distribution challenges, not a decline in supply. “For the next few weeks, Australia’s supply of petrol and diesel and oil will be the same, if not higher, than it normally would be,” Energy Minister Chris Bowen said alongside Albanese.
On the ground, petrol stations are struggling to meet demand. In Cairns, Queensland, the BBC visited an independent garage that had run out of unleaded petrol, with diesel prices 85 percent higher than before the war began. In New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, one in seven retailers reported being out of at least one type of fuel.
The crisis follows attacks on Iran by the US and Israel and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which pushed global oil prices higher. The average retail price of petrol reached 238 Australian cents ($1.64; £1.23) per litre as of Sunday, up from 171 cents just four weeks earlier, according to the Australian Institute of Petroleum. Diesel prices in Sydney have climbed to a record 314.5 cents per litre, according to the National Roads and Motorists’ Association (NRMA).
Recent events have intensified pressure on the market. A cyclone in Western Australia caused outages at two of the world’s largest LNG plants, Gorgon and Wheatstone, which supply roughly 5 percent of global demand, according to Chevron.
Despite widespread concern, experts say the shortages are largely driven by consumer behaviour rather than limited fuel supply. “People are filling up jerry cans of fuel and storing it in their garages,” NRMA spokesperson Peter Khoury told the BBC. “We’re hearing increasingly of transport companies telling their drivers that if you’re half full and you see diesel, buy it.” Independent stations are particularly affected, as they do not have long-term contracts and are therefore prioritised lower by oil companies.
The government has so far ruled out rationing but is taking steps to ease pressure, including releasing oil from the national stockpile and lowering fuel standards. Albanese is expected to convene an emergency national cabinet meeting on Monday to coordinate a response to the crisis.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has sought to reassure Australians that the country’s fuel supply remains “secure” as prices soar and following reports of panic buying and petrol stations running dry since the start of the Iran war.
