Escalation in the Iran war has sparked a fresh diesel price spike in Australia for the long weekend, despite desperate efforts to stabilise prices.
Addressing media on Saturday morning, NRMA’s Peter Khoury revealed there had been a price jump of $46 a barrel for gas oil, which is the international benchmark price for diesel, on Thursday night.
“Obviously, as we headed into the long weekend, we were hoping to see some stabilisation of gas oil,” he said.
“We saw the opposite with a $46 a barrel jump overnight as a result of, well, things coming out of the United States in terms of commentary, but also what we saw with an escalation in Iran,” he said.
Mr Khoury said the jump was “the largest on record” – and signified a tripling in gas oil pricing since the beginning of the war.
However, he moved to cool fears on the impact that would be felt at the bowser following the Easter break.
“It is so volatile. What we know is that things have been changing by the hour. So when we get out of this long weekend, we’ll have a better sense of where we’re sitting.”
Speaking to NewsWire, he said: “We’ve not seen anything remotely like that – it was completely off the charts.
“However, it is important to say we would expect to see it come back in.”
The price of gas oil is the metric that industry experts use to analyse and predict trends in diesel prices – rather than unleaded petrol.
He added: “The positive news is that Tapi, the international benchmark price for unleaded has stabilised.
“We are no longer at the high point. We’ve dropped back now to about $111 a barrel.
“That plus the cut in the excise is now really being reflected at the bowsers across Australia.
“The average price in most of the capital cities for unleaded is now in the low $2.20s, which is great because it’s come back about 20 to 30 cents a litre.
“So that’s pretty consistent with all of the capital cities.”
Meanwhile, energy minister Chris Bowen confirmed that the country still has 39 days worth of petrol, 29 days of diesel and 30 days of jet fuel.
He said: “Our refineries are working full pelt, so what I do want to say is thank you to the workers who are working so hard to get diesel and petrol to service stations right around Australia, working through Easter to ensure that this increase in demand is being dealt with.”
Mr Bowen also revealed that efforts to restock service stations had reduced the number of dry sites.
“I’m pleased to say there has been progress pretty much across the board in New South Wales. [There are] 150 stations without diesel, that is down 32 on yesterday. [There are] 36 with total stock out, that is down 12.
“Victoria, 51 without diesel, down 23 on yesterday, and 30 without unleaded petrol.
“Queensland, 49 without diesel – down seven. South Australia, 13 without diesel, down 15.
“Tasmania, eight without diesel and Northern Territory five without diesel and the ACT six.
“None without unleaded petrol, so the total number of service stations without diesel in Australia, which is where the main pressure has been, is 312 out of around 8,000.
“That still doesn’t mean that there is not still a lot of work to do, so that the figures go down to zero.”
Mr Bowen said Aussies should not cancel their Easter getaways, but encouraged drivers to fill up at city petrol stations to help ease the strain on the regions.
“If you can fill up in the city to help the country, because most of the outages we’re seeing are in regional Australia, particularly on diesel, because it takes longer to get the fuel there to refill and replenish the stocks,” he said.
Mr Khoury said Australian driving habits had changed in the past few weeks as prices soared and shortages sparked panic.
“Our research has shown that more than half of our members have cut back on fuel. They’re regulating their driving, which is exactly what we wanted them to do. They’re being sensible, so they’re combining trips, they’re using public transport more,” he said.
“But we also know that by doing so, they’ve enabled themselves to both financially and ensure there’s enough fuel in the tank to go have a break and come home.”
