Minister for Public Works, Meteorological Services and Transportation, Ro Filipe Tuisawau, has assured members of Parliament and the people of Fiji that current fuel stocks are adequate and supply remains stable under normal operating conditions.
While delivering his ministerial statement on the fuel situation, Ro Filipe says Fiji's fuel supply was reaffirmed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and External Trade, Sakiasi Ditoka, through his recent high-level engagements in Singapore.
He says Singapore’s refineries supply fuel to Fiji through companies including Pacific Energy, ExxonMobil and TotalEnergies, which source crude from a variety of suppliers, increasing resilience, sustainability and diversity.
He says Ditoka and his team also held ministerial-level engagements in Canberra, where the Australian Government has assured its full support.
He further says as of April 27th, the total fuel stock available on land stands at 42.1 million litres. A recent shipment on April 22nd, with about 17.2 million litres, replenished stock levels that were consumed.
He adds that when combined with remaining confirmed shipments arriving this month, the total fuel available to the economy is 67.44 million litres, with national daily consumption averaging approximately 2.5 million litres.
The Minister says this places current storage levels at about 49.7 percent of the total onshore tank capacity.
Ro Filipe says looking ahead to the end of the month, the Ministry projects that stock levels will reduce to approximately 39.2 million litres, representing 29 percent of total storage capacity.
He stressed that this does not mean the public should be alarmed, as fuel supplies for May and June have been paid for.
Insert: Ro Filipe on alarm, 29th April 26
The Minister says they will continue ongoing measures, including daily monitoring of stock levels and consumption patterns in real time, and maintaining active engagement with suppliers to expedite confirmation of shipment arrival dates, with the situation remaining in Phase 1, reflecting normal operating conditions.
Responding to the statement, Opposition Member Premila Kumar asked the government why it did not budget for this crisis.
She acknowledged the assistance programme by the government but highlighted that it should have budgeted for this instead of reallocating funds from other departments.
