WA Police brace for fuel theft boom as Cook takes ACCC to task

Western Australia’s top cop says the force is bracing for a spike in fuel theft and drive-offs as prices surge and anxiety grows about supply shortages.

The average price of unleaded jumped more than 10 cents to 240 cents per litre overnight, while diesel jumped more than 3 cents to 276 cents per litre.

At the start of the month, the average price of unleaded petrol was 162 cents per litre and diesel was 182 cents per litre.

On Tuesday, Nollamarra Vibe had the cheapest fuel in Perth at 199 cents per litre, and by Wednesday afternoon, there were lines of cars down the street waiting to fill up.

Blanch warned the increase in prices and fear of the unknown were no excuse to break the law.

“What people would really be doing is just stealing it from someone else who is in the exact same circumstance as you – has the same fear, has the same anxiety, has the same cost pressures – so I’m not sure that contributes to a better outcome if you steal someone else’s fuel,” he told ABC Perth.

“It’s a criminal offence, you can get charged for it, it can ruin your life, you can go to prison, all of those things can happen, even though you might say, ‘But I needed the fuel because I thought I couldn’t buy any in the future’ – that’s not a reason you can avoid court.”

Blanch’s warning came as WA Premier Roger Cook geared up for a national cabinet meeting on Thursday with fellow state premiers and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to discuss fuel issues resulting from the war in Iran.

A lack of fuel in independent stations is causing anxiety in mining and agricultural areas in WA.

The Cook government is awaiting the sign-off from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to distribute millions of litres of fuel from the national stockpile to distribute to areas like the Goldfields.

Cook said he would be raising the slow pace the ACCC is taking at the national cabinet.

“The last thing we need is some bureaucrat in Canberra sitting on their hands, taking their time to consider what is a national challenge,” he said.

“So we need the ACCC to get on with it, provide the authority, so the gas companies can then move quickly to get fuel to Western Australia,” he said.

The state has also secured 800,000 litres of diesel from energy company Alinta, which was stockpiled at its Wagerup power station.

Great Southern Fuels will distribute 100,000 litres of fuel in the next week to regional emergency services including rural fire stations, police stations and hospitals.

About 100,000 litres of fuel will be sent to Wheatbelt town Dandaragan, 130 kilometres north of Perth.

WA Energy Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson denied this amounted to rationing and said the state was not contemplating rationing despite revealing fuel supplies would be fine until May, but it was unknown what would happen to the international fuel supply beyond then.

“It’s part of our prioritisation. So we’re not rationing fuel, we’re directing it to where it needs to go,” she said.

“In terms of supply outlook under the current circumstances, we understand that WA has sufficient supply for April and May, and we’re ensuring that that supply is getting to the areas that need it most.”

The fuel supply issue prompted one Laverton gold miner to pause trading yesterday after its contractor Blue Cap Mining took to ABC radio on Tuesday morning to reveal uncertainty in fuel supply prompted it to stand down more than 100 staff.

Publicly listed Matsa Resources, which contracts Blue Cap at its Devon Gold Mine, went into a trading halt on Tuesday afternoon and released a statement to the ASX rejecting the assertion its operations were “set to grind to a halt”.

Matsa executive chairman Paul Poli said that claim was incorrect and that the two companies were working through fuel shortage issues.

“Whilst Matsa and BCM are working through the fuel shortage issue which is impacting the mining industry, as well as other industries, mining at Devon is continuing and processing of Campaign 3 ore remains on target to commence on 28 May 2026 as previously advised,” he said.

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