Australia’s Fuel Crisis: Government Actions and Ongoing Challenges
The Australian federal government has taken several steps to address the ongoing fuel crisis, including releasing fuel reserves, cutting fuel excise taxes, and implementing a national fuel security plan. However, understanding the full scope of the situation remains challenging due to the involvement of numerous independent businesses and varying levels of government oversight.
Tracking Fuel Prices and Outages
Fuel price fluctuations and outages have been reported across the country, with significant variations even within small regions. The situation is dynamic, as stations may experience temporary shortages before restocking, driven by efforts from both governments and companies to manage supply chain gaps.
To provide clarity, data on prices, outages, and oil tanker deliveries has been compiled. This includes average petrol and diesel prices, which have risen since the conflict between the US and Israel escalated in late February.
Visualizing the Crisis
A map displaying the number of fuel outages across Australia, updated daily, allows users to hover over stations for a broader view and click through dates where data is available. Since data collection began on 27 March, there have been noticeable spikes in outages in New South Wales and Victoria on 30 and 31 March.
Another chart illustrates the total number of stations experiencing at least one type of fuel shortage each day. This is an estimate, and it may undercount due to differences in reporting timelines across states.
Impact on Fuel Shipments
At least six fuel shipments to Australia have already been cancelled or deferred, with experts predicting more delays or cancellations. A chart showing the total number of “port calls” – or stops – at Australian ports by tankers carrying fuel and crude oil highlights this issue. The data does not differentiate between imports and exports but shows a slight decline in the number of tankers in February and March compared to the past six years.
Disruption in Global Trade Routes
A significant drop in tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz was observed in the first weeks of March. Before the conflict, about a fifth of global oil and a third of fertilizers were transported through this critical route.
Government Measures to Stabilize Supplies
In response to the crisis, the federal government reduced the minimum stock levels that fuel companies are required to hold for emergencies. A weekly snapshot of fuel reserves compared to these new minimums shows that as of early April, Australia’s fuel reserves had increased compared to prewar levels.
Data Sources and Methodology
Data is collected daily from government fuel websites and APIs. Average petrol, e10, and diesel prices are sourced from Motormouth once per day. Some government fuel data is live, while others are refreshed on a delay or when station prices change. All displayed dates reflect when the data was retrieved.
Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, and the Northern Territory explicitly indicate fuel availability in their data. Outages for New South Wales and Tasmania are estimated based on the types of fuels each station typically carries compared to what is available. Western Australia’s outage data is based on temporary outage dates for each station, with data from 26 to 30 March extracted from historic Fuelwatch data, using the same estimation method as NSW and Tasmania.
Daily total outage counts are derived from the sum of all data displayed for each date in the map. Tanker data is sourced from Portwatch, a project from the University of Oxford, using data from the IMF. Counts represent port visits by tanker ships, which could be either imports or exports.
Ongoing Updates and Transparency
This page will be updated as the fuel crisis continues. Any significant corrections made to this or previous versions of the article will be footnoted in line with Guardian editorial policy.
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