The fuel stations in Perth and regional WA that have run out of petrol and diesel due to Middle East war

A growing list of fuel stations in Perth and regional Western Australia are running dry amid the war in the Middle East, with the State placed on “yellow alert” for the shortage.

The global fuel crisis has seen WA elevated from a “white alert” to “yellow alert” in the past week, which is the second on a four-tier scale.

A yellow alert deems that the State is under a “high risk for acute supply disruption” and occurs when “supply channels” are “moderately compromised”.

It comes as 12 service stations reported they had run out of unleaded petrol on Wednesday and 14 stations said they were without diesel.

Energy Minister Chris Bowen has insisted the Government is working to help the regions amid reports big suppliers are skipping independent outlets for their branded sites in Perth.

Simon Leske who has been the owner and operator of Hills Emporio in Karragullen for seven years has been out of fuel for three weeks.

“I don’t think there’s any end in sight yet,” he said.

“I spoke to my supplier the other day and he said that he’s been only given 15 per cent of his normal allocation, which he’s trying to get out to the farms and the regions.”

He said more needed to be done to stop the big four petrol distributors withholding fuel from independents and to get fuel to regional areas.

“The Government needs to look after the little guys, like myself, too. Something it feels like they don’t give a rats about small business. Every service station around me seems to have no problem with fuel and as I say, we’ve run out.

“But more importantly, look after farmers so they can get their seeding done.”

The issues extend across the State, with Esperance, Geraldon, Mount Barker, Albany and Geographe on the list — with farming communities particularly worried about the upcoming cropping season.

The crisis has become so bad truckies trying to drive goods to and from WA have been stranded at remote servos and reported fuel cost now as high as $10,000 per trip.

Heavy haulage boss Robert Cook says he has been stranded twice one east-west run — once for a day and a half at Ceduna on the Nullarbor and then again near Keith on the SA-Victorian border.

Mr Cook often carries critical equipment for the mining and agriculture sectors, with in excess of 100 tonnes.

The Helco Group owner said the average fuel cost to travel from Melbourne to Perth has doubled from $5000 to $10,000 and has called for the excise to be scrapped.

“I’ve been in and around trucks for the last 20 years. It’s very frustrating to see our country struggle like this,” he said.

“The hard part is with the prices going up, I’ve had to put a fuel excess surcharge on top of my principal quote and some people don’t agree with that, which I understand because it’s expensive.

“I charge 27 per cent extra on top, which quite frankly isn’t enough with the way it’s going.

“I’ve got four trucks on the road, one of them I drive myself. Unfortunately, I can lose jobs because of it. We’re really feeling the pinch.”

Motor Trade Association of Western Australia boss Neil Le Febvre said some regional areas had seen four-times the demand since the war began.

“The big brands have contracts with their stations and then you have independents who don’t have agreements so they typically rely on spot pricing,” he said.

“The challenge here is the contract law and the fact that the big supplies are mandated to deliver to their branded outlets so it does leave those independents in predicaments.

“Panic buying has drained supply to a certain degree.”

Fuel prices will continue to soar across WA on Thursday, with five brands set to record an increase in the metro.

The average unleaded price per litre will be $2.5830 per litre in the metro area, while the State’s maximum price will be in Port Hedland at $2.8480/litre.

The average diesel price is $3.0710/litre across the city.

The cheapest outlet in the metro will be Vibe stations, with the brand average down 4.3 cents to $2.4930/litre.

Caltex will be the most expensive brand at $2.6830/litre.