Australia's Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) will temporarily publish the latest available statistics on fuel stocks in the country under the Minimum Stockholding Obligation (MSO) weekly, transitioning from quarterly updates.
Fuel suppliers are required to report stocks held on Tuesday by Friday and prove compliance with the MSO under federal law.
Australia had 30, 37 and 29-days' worth of stocks for gasoil, gasoline and jet fuel at the normal rate of consumption, the latest weekly snapshot of fuel supplies as of 10 March show. This was 2pc, 52pc and 23pc above the required volumes under the MSO at the time.
Demand for road fuels across Australia has spiked over the last two weeks because consumers rushed to service stations to procure supplies in anticipation of higher prices. This has meant the normal rate of consumption of 273,000 b/d and 578,000 b/d of gasoline and gasoil has been surpassed, eroding the level of MSO days of storage and leading to reported shortfalls in Australia's regional areas that rely on smaller independent wholesalers for supply, far from terminals.
The Australian government allowed the release of up to 762mn litres (4.8mn bl) of gasoline and gasoil from Australia's domestic reserves on 13 March, reducing the MSO levels for each company to which it applies. The government has also taken other measures such as the relaxation in fuel standards to allow Australian refiner Ampol to sell its gasoline domestically at 50ppm sulphur content, above the national standard of 10ppm for a 60-day period.
