Source: Radio New Zealand
An advocacy group wants more action from the government in the face of global fuel shortages. RNZ
A broad coalition dedicated to assessing and responding to risks arising from climate change and economic insecurity wants more action from the government in the face of what could be “massive economic disruption” caused by global fuel shortages.
New Zealand has been too slow to understand the nature of the crisis, Wise Response Society chair Nathan Surendran said, as the group called for more transparency from the government and the activation of the National Fuel Security Plan.
New Zealanders queued for petrol over the weekend as crude oil prices topped US$115 a barrel, the highest level since 2022.
Waitomo Group chief executive Simon Parham said demand at the company’s petrol stations went up 15 to 20 percent over the past week.
He said there was 20 days’ stock in the country and cargo was arriving by ship every other day.
Air Chathams chief executive Duane Emeny said the rising cost of oil was costing the small airline around $140,000 extra a month in fuel.
Emeny told Checkpoint the airline may have to cut flights should the price of jet fuel remain so high, and he wanted the government to look at ways to soften the blow on airlines.
Freight companies warned escalating costs would be passed on to “every product that arrives on shelves” as some operators halted operations and others added war and fuel surcharges.
Cars in a queue for petrol at Tasman Fuels in Epsom, on Sunday 8 March 2026. RNZ / Luka Forman
Surendran said it was clear the conflict would go on far longer than United States President Donald Trump indicated, but even if it ended swiftly, structural damage to refineries and oil facilities across six countries meant delays would last months, not weeks.
“New Zealand imports every drop of refined fuel we use, and the countries we buy it from are running out of the crude oil they need to make it. Eighty-one percent of our refined fuel comes from South Korea and Singapore – both countries have companies declaring force majeure, which means they legally cannot deliver what we’re contracted to buy, so the pipeline of fuel coming into New Zealand is breaking down.”
Beyond the two to three weeks of fuel in tanks in the country and the floating reserve of ships en route, supply was uncertain as refineries New Zealand bought from cut production and countries restricted exports to protect their own supply, he said.
This meant the preferential buy options on international oil markets New Zealand relied on may not be able to be redeemed.
“New Zealand is at the end of some very long supply chains and is more vulnerable than most to supply shocks of this kind.”
Other countries across the region, including Thailand, Myanmar and India, had already taken concrete action, including rationing and implementing oil contingency plans, while in Australia some distributors were rationing deliveries to retailers.
In the absence of a formal rationing framework, price rationing kicked in.
“The worst form of rationing is the one that happens by default – price spikes, panic buying, emptying out petrol stations and the people who can least afford it go without.”
New Zealand faced massive economic upheaval if it did not proactively manage the crisis, given the country’s export and import sectors relied on the timely supply of fuel, as did the productive sector including freight, agriculture, construction and fisheries.
Finance Minister Nicola Willis is chairing a new economic security ministerial oversight group to focus on fuel and supply chains. RNZ / Mark Papalii
The last time the government bought in measures to restrict fuel use was in the 1970s in response to disruption caused by the Arab-Israeli war and the Iranian revolution.
This time, the one-fifth of global fuel supply that would travel through the Strait of Hormuz had been affected, and that proportion could grow.
“The 1970s fuel crises were a few percentage point drops in fuel supply and that nearly tanked economies globally. This is several times larger in terms of the impact, and there’s no obvious endpoint to the conflict.”
The situation or one similar was predictable given resource depletion and the limits to growth, and should be considered as part of a future where fuel supply was more expensive, less secure, and less reliable.
The country faced some difficult conversations, but Surendran said New Zealand’s number 8 wire mentality would help in coming to grips with the challenge.
“We can adapt, we will adapt. The sooner we get moving on that adaptation, the better.”
On Monday, the Prime Minister announced the establishment of a new economic security ministerial oversight group – chaired by the Finance Minister – to focus on fuel and supply chains.
Christopher Luxon said New Zealand was well-placed to ride the wave of the latest shock.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
