Fuel supply/ shortages

DMaxer · Guru

Fuel supply/ shortages

Whenarewethere · Guru

The problem Australia has is not an increase in fuel usage.

It is an increase in fuel sales. Actually fuel usage has reduced.

Once people have stopped filling every last container, fuel sales will be lower than before the war.

It will actually be even lower again as people will start using the fuel stored in all their tupperware containers.

No different to the toilet paper circus. After the panic the supermarkets were bursting with toilet paper. People didn't start wiping their backsides more often.

Are We Lost · Guru

It's puzzling that many are pointing to consumer hoarding as being the cause of the current shortages. No government, even our present one would be stupid enough not to take consumer behaviour into account when planning how to deal with supply shortages. Look at the root cause .... 80+% of Asia Pacific consumption (crude and refined) normally comes through Hormuz. With so much less available, something has to break.

Australia is the standout nation in the developed world for its low reserves, so is it any wonder people dependent on fuel for their livelihoods are getting nervous. Anyone with any business sense would be looking at risk management. If the impact is severe, then mitigation action MUST be taken. Think of the farmer who runs out of fuel and as a result loses their income. A prudent farmer MUST mitigate that risk, so storing as much as they can is the first. The same for all industry and those who are reliant on fuel to survive.

Surely this highlights why we need to build more storage infrastructure, and perhaps rebuild our refining capability. Of course it costs and that will need to be passed on, but virtually every other country recognises that, with their 90-200 days' storage. Australia is more remote than most, with huge distances, and heavily dependent on fuel for industry. So why should Australia be the standout with the lowest fuel reserves. No wonder there is hoarding. Time to manage the risk so we are better prepared for the next crisis. Thinking it will never happen is foolish. The next may be much worse. What will happen if China invades Taiwan (as stated they intend) and our usual suppliers can't ship to us at all?

-- Edited by Are We Lost on Monday 30th of March 2026 01:02:39 PM

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Australia has one of the highest consumption of diesel and petrol, per person, in the world, caused mainly by road freight and mining.
The miners are reducing their diesel consumption rapidly. Not so road transport.
Reduce consumption and the reserves will last longer.
Cheers,
Peter

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Does not matter how you look at it....
Litres of Diesel/oil per ton of freight per 100km:
Semi trailer .... 1.2 - 2.3L
Rail.................0.23 - 0 28L
Ship ...............0.03L

If you then add the road repairs and the labour to drive this transport, trucks are a very poor choice.
Cheers,
Peter

Ineedabiggerboat · Senior Member

Were going to have a problem and there is no way out of it, irrespective of what the fuel warriors here say. To me the only thing that I can do is limit my use by driving less, planning so Im driving less and when I do drive, I drive at a lower speed. I did a test last week on one of my usual runs. Instead of driving at 110, I drove at 100. I saved more than half a litre per 100k. My recommendation and my plan is to continue to do just that. If everyone did, it will make a difference.

Stevejaz · Veteran Member

A bit of a pity this thread has gotten so far from the influence of the current fuel situation, both price and availability. Reading through I have found some ridiculous claims such as fuel going up in price by 300%. Pure nonsense. Diesel has got from $1.80 to $3.25/litre at my local outlet and at the always expensive Kulgera Roadhouse it's $4/litre. The only time I would buy fuel there is if I went out to Ayres Rock.It's around $3.40 in most larger towns like Alice Springs.
I speak for no-one other than myself, but our trips are generally for about 6 months over winter with most driving done in long trips there and back with minimal driving once settled in somewhere. I even carry an electric fat bike for fishing and short shopping trips etc. Consequently we do about 10,000km/year. Less than most people driving to work and back.
While the large increase in price for the trip north is scary, though not entirely unmanageable, it is the chance of rationing and being stuck up north in the 'silly season' that is of greatest concern to me. Covid all over again. The longer this goes on the more likely that is looking.
Saw a bit on TV about a grey Nomad couple from Queensland who left shortly before all this started who have decided to sit it out up near Port Augusta somewhere I think it was.
Can't afford to keep going on their trip. Can't afford to go home.
I would REALLY like to hear more from people like that here rather than Political posturing. Not what this forum is for. In my humble opinion there is one person to blame for this situation and one person only. It has little to do with how our Govt deals with it.
The thing of interest to me is how WE deal with it as Grey Nomads. The sharing of personal experiences and tips for survival on the road.

rmoor · Guru

Are We Lost.

Good words.
The govt were blaming people for stocking up.
What about tradies in small trucks absolutely dependent on diesel to run around all their jobs for the week.
No fuel. No Job, No income.

= Cactus.

Cannot point the finger at those stocking up, it is a natural human response to a looming threat.
Put simply, farmers also cannot function without a basic supply of fuel.

Today's announcement of halving the .52 fuel tax on Wednesday will be a litmus test.
Will we see a reduction of 26 cents (plus GST) on Thursday?

Or will the wholesalers go along with it for a few days then jam it back up again.

My mate the butcher just rang me about another issue.
He said the servo across the road just jammed all their prices up by 10 cents straight after the fuel tax announcement.
Bit of a coincidence.

I mentioned to him we have two refineries, Brisbane and Geelong.
How much does it cost on this huge island to move that product all over the country?

Are We Lost · Guru

Responding to Peter's comment about the fuel consumption of different freight transport methods ....

The triple handling is very costly. If you want to send something between two cities it needs to be trucked to a rail terminal, then loaded to the train. At the other end of the train journey the reverse applies for unloading. So it needs to be handled 4 times vs twice. That costs and adds delays. But worse the rail network probably entails much greater distances when the supplier and receiver are not close to the terminals.

When a supplier is focused on keeping costs down, just looking at quantity of fuel used is not much of an indicator.

Stevejaz wrote:
.... I have found some ridiculous claims such as fuel going up in price by 300%. Pure nonsense.

I believe you are probably right. So far it has gone up close to 100%. So 300% would be a huge stretch.

Today's announcement of halving the excise is a good move. This is on top of the government now protecting our importers if they buy at a high price and then prices drop. But even with the exise cut the international prices are still going up. So any drop in pump prices is likely to be shortlived.

-- Edited by Are We Lost on Monday 30th of March 2026 03:16:22 PM

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

I worked for a manufacturer in Adelaide. We shipped a lot of goods to Perth (and other capital cities).
Rail was much cheaper than road and we only used road if we stuffed up.
Road = 1 driver per 40T? Rail = 1 driver per 1,000T? The bits at each end are insignificant if the distances are great which is the case for all interstate transport.
Road requires 100X the vehicle maintenance compared to rail and 1000X more road/track maintenance.
Cheers,
Peter

rmoor · Guru

Dear Stevejaz.

The problem is all-encompassing.
It affects all of us, and will continue to impact for weeks/months/years as the situation evolves.

My butcher mate rang me about a few work issues, he just copped a 60% freight increase on some of his goods.
He was in the process of changing his prices to reflect the additional cost of landing his product.

You are quite right with your fears of being stranded somewhere if the situation gets out of hand or smaller remote independents just shut their doors as the supply gets short(er) or they are simply priced out of the market.

Have been doing calculations for an impending trip I have with accommodation already booked and paid for.
I feel your pain.
Like Bigger Boat, I too have cancelled trips, driven slower and used my petrol vehicle instead of the ute to conserve my full tank in the ute to tow the van.

It is a worry and is affecting all of us in different ways.
The inflationary cost from this is a big worry and the risk of Stagflation hitting us is real and scary.

The world sure is a mess since a group of terrorists decided cross a border and r*pe, kidnap and murder innocent people.
It has really gone downhill from there and doesn't look like improving overnight.

The only ones in this country with any power to alleviate the pain are the pollies.
They have improved a bit today but it still remains to be seen if the savings will be passed on or if the greedy fuel barons will just laugh and pocket the difference?

Time will tell.......

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Ineedabiggerboat wrote:
Were going to have a problem and there is no way out of it, irrespective of what the fuel warriors here say. To me the only thing that I can do is limit my use by driving less, planning so Im driving less and when I do drive, I drive at a lower speed. I did a test last week on one of my usual runs. Instead of driving at 110, I drove at 100. I saved more than half a litre per 100k. My recommendation and my plan is to continue to do just that. If everyone did, it will make a difference.

An example of what you suggest....

In 2024, we were in WA and needed to return to Adelaide unexpectedly and urgently for a family death.

We drove the OKA at 95/100kph from dawn to dusk. We used 21/22L/100km (the OKA weighs 6.5T).

After the funeral, we drove back to WA (via Alice Springs and the Tanami) to finish our trip (which included the northern end of the Canning Stock route).

Coming home from WA, we drove at 75kph and at one time stopped in Norseman for an extra day to wait for a tail wind across the Nullarbor.

We used 14L/100km and were able to skip filling at any higher priced servos, cutting fuel usage by 1/3rd and fuel cost by half, compared with the previous trip.

Cheers,

Peter

Stevejaz · Veteran Member

I think my answer in the short term is go buy some silverbeet seedlings and put them in the garden for winter greens. Sit it out for a while and spend a fortune on heating bills for the winter instead. Wonder if that will work out much cheaper. But still at least if I'm stranded I'm stranded at home.

rmoor · Guru

Ha ha not wrong!!!

I have planted out some extra stuff to cover winter in my back paddock.
My silver beet patch went stupid last year and had to get a mate come in during the drought to come into town and harvest them.

His goats out on his patch were scratching for tucker in the drought so he harvested my silver beet patch.
They are good to grow from seed and come up quickly.
I soak them in water for an hour before planting to assist that process.

Endive are a good winter green also, but the slugs always love my crop of endive.
My choko vines are about to yield if we don't get an early frost where I am.
Usually get 1 to 2,000 of them and feed about 10 families at this time of year.

A couple of us have discussed planting heaps this year to swap around as the supermarket prices could become ridiculous over winter with these fuel issues.

I joked last week with a mate we take his massive rock melon patch and my surplus chokos and sell them out on the highway to fund our fuel costs......

Stevejaz · Veteran Member

Cheers. I had a 'back paddock' many years ago but these days a pensioner flat. Had silverbeet self sowing for years but it failed this year. Was actually thinking about seeds rather than seedlings. Save the trip to Bunnings.One thing I found with the self sown ones. They did not take well to being replanted. Start in small pots I guess. Actually one tip for Grey nomads might be a supply of mustard and cress seeds. The sort of thing you can grow and harvest quickly if stranded somewhere. That and bean sprouts.