Auckland petrol stations run out of fuel

Motorists leaving work for the week may struggle to find fuel as multiple gas stations in Auckland have run out of diesel.

The Herald was alerted to Z Stations in Te Rakau, Pakuranga and Botany running out of diesel.

Te Rakau has since been replenished, a delivery to Botany is due before 6pm and Pakuranga will get replenished around 4am.

This is a consequence of the fuel transportation problems the country has had after the latest disruption to the Marsden Point to Auckland fuel pipeline.

The Z Petrol station in Pt Chev with a sign announcing they had run out of 91 octane petrol on Tuesday. Photo / Brett Phibbs

The pipeline supplies petrol, diesel and jet fuel from the Marsden Pt Refinery to the Wiri Oil Terminal in South Auckland. It supplies about 95 per cent of Auckland's total fuel, including all of Auckland International Airport's jet fuel.

The 170km pipeline was shut down for more than 12 hours on Sunday following what turned out to be a false alarm from a leak detection system.

There were already lower supplies following the rupture of the Refining NZ pipeline at Ruakaka in September. The pipeline has been operating at 80 per cent capacity since then and it could be early next year until it was fully restored.

On Tuesday some Z stations ran out of petrol at sites from Pt Chevalier to Clevedon and at that time BP and Mobil said outages at their sites would be minimal and short-lived.

"The latest Refinery to Auckland Pipeline disruptions have exacerbated already tight supplies driven by the pipeline not operating at full capacity, very strong jet fuel demand and long spells of hot, dry weather boosting ground transport fuel demand," said a Z spokeswoman.

"It's important to remember there is no shortage of fuel, rather it has been particularly difficult to get it to where it is needed most.

"This logistics challenge in getting more fuel from ports to service stations will result in some service stations running out of some fuel varieties in the short term. These shortages will be occasional and won't last long as we work to replenish stocks as soon as possible," she said.