4 hours ago
3
If you’re stressing about petrol prices right now, spare a thought for the many Australians getting around in a diesel. I’m one of them.
Diesel has broken through $3/litre in many parts of Australia and could rise much more if a bunch of ships can’t get through a passage of water half the world away, in what the International Energy Agency has called the “largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market”.
But while it’s already costing Ford Ranger owners up to $240 a tank to refill, you won’t have to worry about diesel hitting $4/litre if you can’t buy it at all.
In NSW on Monday, Premier Chris Minns confirmed more than 100 service stations had run out of diesel. The next day, it had risen to 164. By the time you read this, it will probably be many more again (there are more than 2400 service stations in NSW).
Diesel bowsers are running dry in every other state and territory. It’s so dire, the government has lowered Australia’s diesel standards for six months to allow more fuel into the country.
My only car is a diesel – a little 2012 Hyundai i30. It would upend my life if I couldn’t put fuel in it. And I’m one of the lucky ones.
I don’t depend on my diesel vehicle to run me 50km into town to get food because I don't live in a regional area. I don’t depend on my diesel vehicle to get me to work every day, run kids to school, look after elderly parents or take someone sick to doctor appointments or medical treatments. I don’t depend on diesel to run my business.
But countless Australians do – for all these things. More than 29 per cent of all registered motor vehicles in Australia run on diesel – approximately 6.5 million vehicles.
The problem for diesel owners is that unlike petrol, if the Strait of Hormuz remains ‘closed’ for any longer than another three to four weeks, we are uniquely exposed.
Australia runs on diesel fuel. Diesel trucks transport just about everything, including most of our food (if not all of it). Farming relies heavily on diesel for heavy machinery like tractors and harvesters. Diesel powers the trucks that take the cement from depot to worksite, keeping the construction industry going (the tower cranes run on it too).
Diesel powers the freight trains that rumble essential goods between our cities. Most emergency services vehicles run on diesel, and many remote communities rely on diesel generators. The Australian Defence Force would presumably grind to a halt without diesel, and imagine if that early morning garbage truck could only collect half an area’s wheelie bins. That bus that I might have to catch? Diesel.
The government already has a “priority fuel user” list making sure essential services get first dibs on diesel if supply starts turning to a trickle. Adding to the pressure, many – if not most – other major economies also depend on diesel, including those that refine it from crude oil, which we don’t really do in Australia. So you can forget the highest bidder – oil-refining nations are not going to sell us their diesel if they need it for themselves.
For people like you and me, panic-buying is not the answer, and the federal government is reassuring Australians that the country’s fuel supply is secure until mid-April. But beyond that, I’d be expecting diesel at my local servo to be extortionately priced – if for sale at all.
Dylan Campbell has been road-testing and writing about cars and the new-car industry since 2006. An independent motoring expert based in Melbourne, Dylan is a former Editor of Wheels Magazine, MOTOR Magazine and the TopGear Australia website.
