Fuel supply strong, fewer stations dry in Easter exodus

"The fact these figures are effectively flat means fuel is going out the door to service stations and farmers, and fuel is going in the door at Australia's import terminals and refineries," Energy Minister Chris Bowen said.

He thanked those working hard to get fuel to where it's needed to meet the demand.

The number of service stations running out of petrol and diesel has gone down.

In NSW 150 service stations were without diesel, 32 less than on Friday, in Victoria 51 had run out of diesel, down by 23, and in Queensland 49 were without diesel, down by seven since the start of the Easter break.

"The total number of service stations without diesel in Australia, which is where the main pressure has been, is 312 out of the around 8000," Mr Bowen told reporters in Sydney.

He reiterated the Albanese government's call for families to stick to their Easter holiday plans but to buy no more fuel than they needed and to buy it in the city to help keep fuel supplies up in the country.

"Australia's fuel supply remains strong still, more than 50 ships are on their way to Australia, still only six cancellations of forward orders."

Mr Bowen said new orders had more than replaced the cancelled ones and fuel companies had told him they were very confident of the supply of 3.7 billion litres booked in for April and going into May.

NRMA spokesman Peter Khoury told reporters a positive was that the international benchmark price for unleaded petrol had stabilised.

That and the cut in the fuel excise was being reflected at the bowser, with the average price in most capital cities for unleaded now in the low $2.20s, about a 20 to 30 cents a litre reduction.

"Australians can have confidence that they can go away this weekend, they can have a break with their families, they can go on a road trip and there is going to be petrol and diesel for them," Mr Khoury said.

That would benefit regional communities which rely heavily on tourism, he said.  

"We don't want fuel sitting in your jerry can at home because that belongs in a truck or in a harvester," Mr Khoury said.

Mr Bowen said the majority of imported fuel had come from Asian refineries but since the war in the Middle East, Australia had been sourcing fuel from the US, Mexico and other countries.

"That's a good thing for diversifying supply."

Mr Khoury said data showed Australians were combining trips to save fuel, such as school runs and shopping, and that helped the nation.

Stockpiling was a "really bad idea" Mr Bowen said, and it was dangerous to have jerry cans of fuel sitting in garages.

It was seeding and sowing season in NSW and that's why service station fuel outages had been higher in that state, the minister said.

"But I do think, I hope, that we're seeing now the worst of that past," Mr Bowen said.

"We don't know exactly how this war will end. I'm not sure anyone around the world does but the sooner it ends the better."