Saturday 4 April 2026
PetrolPulse data powers news.com.au coverage of Easter fuel crisis affecting 325 stations
PetrolPulse's outage data powered Easter fuel shortage coverage across 7 major Australian news outlets including The Australian, news.com.au, Herald Sun, Daily Telegraph, Courier Mail, and Adelaide Now.
Featured across national media
On April 2, journalist Danielle Collis published a feature story on Easter fuel shortages affecting hundreds of Australian petrol stations. PetrolPulse's live outage tracker powered the story, providing the headline figure of 325 affected stations, the state-by-state breakdown table, and the fuel type analysis. The article was syndicated across 7 News Corp outlets: The Australian, news.com.au, Herald Sun, Daily Telegraph, Courier Mail, Adelaide Now, and Geelong Advertiser. The Traffic Management Association of Australia (TMAA) also independently recommended PetrolPulse as a fuel tracking tool for its members.
What the data showed
PetrolPulse's tracker identified 325 fuel stations experiencing outages nationally on the Thursday before Easter. New South Wales was hardest hit with 184 affected stations, followed by Queensland with 79 and Victoria with 31. Nearly half of all outages were diesel-related, reflecting the surge in demand from fleet operators, tradies, and farmers responding to the excise cut announcement. Approximately 77 per cent of impacted stations had just one fuel type unavailable, while 23 per cent had multiple outages.
How the tracker works
The PetrolPulse fuel shortage tracker pulls data every 30 minutes from state government fuel reporting systems across Australia. It detects outages through two methods: explicit out-of-stock signals from states that report them (Queensland, South Australia), and automatic detection for states where stations stop reporting a fuel type (New South Wales, Western Australia, Victoria, Tasmania, Northern Territory). The tracker is free, requires no account, and updates automatically.
Check live outages before travelling
If you are travelling this Easter or planning a regional trip, check the live outage map before you leave. Diesel outages remain common on regional corridors. For the cheapest petrol near you and a recommendation on whether to fill up now or wait, check your city's forecast.
Check your city's current forecast to see whether now is the right time to fill up.