• Total national fuel stocks remain stable since the last update and stocks continue to be sufficient across petrol, diesel and jet fuel.
• Overall, New Zealand has 51.2 days of petrol, 41.6 days of diesel and 47.4 days of jet fuel available. This is as of 11.59pm 19 April.
• This fuel is either in New Zealand, within our Exclusive Economic Zone (New Zealand waters) – which includes ships with fuel unloading, ships at berth yet to unload, and ships moving between ports – or on water outside the EEZ up to 3 weeks away.
• Compared with the previous update on 20 April, petrol stocks are lower by 2.8 days, diesel is lower by 3.2 days and jet fuel is lower by 4 days.
• The changes for petrol, diesel and jet fuel meet the threshold criteria (plus or minus 3 or more days’ cover) to consider a phase assessment; however, MBIE’s advice to Ministers is that an assessment is not required, as these changes do not raise any immediate concerns.
• This is the sort of variation we would expect to see when international shipping is operating as usual, without the current Middle East situation. Movements remain within expectations and show normal patterns.
• While the total stock for diesel is down, the stock in country and within our EEZ is almost as high as it has ever been since the Middle East conflict started. There is also a ship currently loading diesel in Singapore and this will be on the way to New Zealand shortly.
• We can expect fuel stocks in the country to decline over the next few weeks as fuel tankers are 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.
• There is currently no indication of fuel supply disruption, and fuel continues to flow normally into New Zealand.

As at 11:59pm on Sunday 19 April, fuel companies confirmed the current fuel stock level (as days’ cover) as:

*Totals may not sum due to rounding.

Fuel stocks naturally rise and fall each week as fuel is used and new shipments arrive. Current fuel levels are broadly in line with normal levels before recent global disruptions, and fuel supply remains normal.

Fuel companies continue to report regularly to officials, and there are currently no concerns about future fuel shipments.

MBIE receives fuel stock and shipment data from fuel importers twice a week. This information is published on the MBIE website on Monday and Wednesday afternoons and shows fuel supply at a specific point in time.

The updated MBIE webpage can be found here: https://www.mbie.govt.nz/about/news/fuel-stocks-update

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