No need to panic, says petrol boss

The fuel industry says supplies of ground fuel into Auckland are ‘‘well under control’’ amid the first signs of impact on motorists.

Yesterday, Z Energy said four of its stations in Auckland had run out of ‘‘premium’’ or 95 octane petrol on Monday afternoon, the result of a deliberate decision to focus on diesel and regular petrol. By 11am the number had grown to 13.

Since the fuel pipe which supplies almost all of Auckland’s fuel was taken offline late last week, ground petrol is being trucked into Auckland from Marsden Point and Mount Maunganui, a major logistical effort.

Expert reports from 2012 and 2005 warned that in the event that the pipeline linking the New Zealand Refinery to Auckland being disrupted for more than a week, the industry would be unable to supply enough ground fuel to the city.

But so far supplies have held up, and Andrew Mcnaught, Mobil’s New Zealand boss who is acting as an industry spokesman, said the ground fuel situation was ‘‘well under control’’.

‘‘We would like to encourage our motorists to continue to drive the way they normally do. There is no reason at all to be doing anything different.’’ .

‘‘People just need to get on with their lives and make sure they are driving safely and let the oil industry manage the supply,’’ Mcnaught said.

Asked if there was any sign of panic buying in Auckland, Mcnaught said he could only speak for Mobil, but there was no sign of it.

‘‘We haven’t seen any change in normal demand patterns.’’

Auckland mayor Phil Goff said he had spoken to Energy and Resources Minister Judith Collins about supplies to the fuel network and was confident supply would be maintained.

‘‘I have a strong assurance that the supply of petrol and diesel for our vehicle fleet can be and will be maintained,’’ Goff said.

‘‘There doesn’t appear to be an immediate threat problem on the vehicle fleet.’’

Z Energy spokesman Jonathan Hill said the company had made a ‘‘quite deliberate’’ focus on petrol and diesel when the situation was unknown.

‘‘I have a strong assurance that the supply of petrol and diesel for our vehicle fleet can be and will be maintained. There doesn’t appear to be an immediate threat problem on the vehicle fleet.’’ Auckland mayor Phil Goff

Now that it appeared the pipeline issue would be resolved within a week, 95 was again being trucked.

‘‘I think the number [without 95] will grow over the course of the day, but not materially,’’ Hill said, adding that some sites had about a week’s supply of premium fuel.

Z Energy has about 70 sites in the Auckland network while overall there were about 350 and most of Z’s competitors appeared to have supplies of premium grade fuel, Hill said.

‘‘Ninety per cent of petrol vehicles can run on 91,’’ Hill said.

BP said in a statement that all fuel grades as usually stocked were available across the Auckland network, including premium grade petrol.

Meanwhile, the Government is looking at further steps to make it easier for the industry to maintain supplies to Auckland.

This is likely to include making it easier for fuel trucks to get overweight permits to carry more fuel.

While there is already a process to get the permits, the New Zealand Transport Agency has created a special team for the event.