Source: Radio New Zealand
RNZ / Dan Cook
The Taxpayers’ Union wants the Government to release daily fuel stock updates, saying the weekly figures aren’t an accurate representation of the country’s supply.
The Ministry for Business, Innovation, and Employment releases data on fuel stocks twice a week, including the amount on board ships heading to New Zealand.
Monday’s update used data from April 8 that showed there were 59.7 days of petrol, 49.1 of diesel and 50.7 of jet fuel.
Tory Relf told Checkpoint information that was a week old, was neither timely nor transparent and people needed daily updates so they could plan their lives.
“It’s very different if you’ve got 20 days of petrol left versus 50 days of petrol left how you might plan your business or plan your personal life.”
Relf didn’t believe the situation was necessarily worse, but said transparency was an issue.
She said the figures shouldn’t include fuel that was en-route to New Zealand but still outside the country’s exclusive economic zone.
“Because we can’t gurantee that they’ll be coming to New Zealand.”
Relf said as yet, all ships bound for New Zealand had arrived.
MBIE said in a statement it releases the data just one working day after it is received and it is a “verified data snapshot at a fixed point in time, rather than a live operational feed.”
“Data collected by importers at 11.59pm on Wednesday is supplied to us on Friday afternoon. MBIE validates and aggregates the data, and publishes it the following Monday. Data collected at 11.59pm Sunday is received by MBIE on Tuesday and published on Wednesday,” it said.
“Our decision to publish data on a regular schedule rather than in real time is a deliberate choice. Shipping schedules change frequently due to weather, port congestion and discharge rates. Updating figures every time a ship moves would introduce volatility without improving accuracy. Instead, we publish confirmed, importer‑reported data on a predictable timetable, so figures are reliable and comparable over time.”
MBIE said collecting the data at a fixed point in time “ensures everyone is looking at the same snapshot, taken at the same moment across the whole system.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
