‘It’s not panic-buying’: farmers defend stockpiling as regional Australia bears brunt of fuel crisis

He said the companies were allocating stock to select retail service stations, which meant independent distributors like his company, and even some of the smaller branded sites, were missing out.

“We actually cart fuel for some branded service stations – both Ampol and Shell – and … they’ve told us we can’t pick up today because they haven’t got any allocation,” he said.

“Whether those so-called allocation limits are being put on because they’re trying to preserve the fuel and spread it out among everybody, I don’t know; I’m not privy to what Shell does or what Ampol does but they are definitely doing allocation.”

Nathan Falvo, who made the news on the weekend when his petrol station in Victoria’s north-west completely ran dry, also raised concerns about fuel allocation.

On Wednesday, Falvo told Guardian Australia he had just received another top-up delivery after his store in Robinvale again ran out of unleaded and was left for about 10 hours without any petrol.

Falvo said each week he typically sold between 12,000 and 18,000 litres of unleaded and diesel fuel combined and would normally receive two to three refills from a local distributor supplied by one of the majors in Melbourne.

“There was a period now when we had no allocation for unleaded or diesel,” he said. “We weren’t receiving our normal orders.”

Guardian Australia contacted Mobil, BP, Ampol and Viva Energy for comment. The four companies supply about 85% of Australia’s liquid fuels, according to the peak body that represents them – the Australian Institute of Petroleum.

Last week, the AIP said its members did not have “sufficient inventory” to supply businesses that could not obtain fuel from their regular suppliers or had relied on the spot market.

“In these circumstances, AIP members have had to prioritise supply to their regular customers and cease spot sales,” the AIP’s chief executive, Malcolm Roberts, said.

The Barwon MP, Roy Butler, whose rural electorate encompasses nearly half of NSW, said regional industries were bearing the brunt of the supply crisis and the federal government should facilitate plans for bulk diesel storage.

“Supply seems to be most restricted to independent fuel outlets, which quite often are the only available outlet in remote areas,” he said. “A supply interruption now can have financial repercussions well into the future.”

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, on Wednesday announced a snap meeting of national cabinet on fuel supply set to take place on Thursday morning, the latest in a string of meetings at state and federal levels to discuss the problem.

Albanese stressed that so far all of Australia’s imports of petrol and diesel had arrived as expected but acknowledged a surge in demand had led to some shortages, particularly of diesel.

The government had already directed fuel companies to release nearly one-fifth of reserve petrol and diesel supplies, relaxed standards to allow higher sulphur levels in fuel and promised to crack down on any price-gouging by petrol retailers.

The NSW sheep farmer Graham Gilmore said diesel prices soared from $1.76 a litre to $3 in just a few days at the start of the month, as he defended those in the agriculture industry who had chosen to stockpile fuel.

“It would be a very poor decision for any business to not buy it at the lower price,” he said. “It’s not panic-buying. On 10,000 litres at an extra $1.25, that’s $12,000.

“If you don’t have the fuel, you’re immediately in trouble.”