Independent fuel feels BP’s pain

If BP is feeling the squeeze from supermarket giants; the obvious question is ‘what chance have independents got?’, says the association that represents small-to-medium businesses in petroleum.

The Australasian Convenience and Petroleum Marketers Association CEO, Nic Moulis, said, “While it is concerning that up to 300 industry employees would be losing their jobs, this is only part of the estimated 5,000 employees that have lost job opportunities as almost 1,000 independent service stations closed in the last four years.”

ACAPMA cites ACCC data that indicates the number of independent service stations has fallen by 16 per cent between the 2009 and 2012 financial years.

The Association said that in recent times legislation has only added to the cost of operating businesses, and has done little to reflect the systemic issues that can only be addressed by government.

“In recent years, at both Federal and State levels, all that industry has seen applied to businesses is greater levels of red tape, adding cost to operation rather than facilitating vibrant competition for consumers,” Moulis said.

“In New South Wales alone, we have had a biofuels mandate that, by Government reports, cost the industry $270 million in compliance costs.

“There has also been a price board directive, which went past the simple recommendation to remove the confusion of the discounted price, forcing over 65 per cent of service stations to install new price displays.

“BP’s announcement today should make it plainly obvious that the current frameworks in wholesale and retail petroleum sector are broken.

“The first priority for the new Federal Government should be to take action on the current industry practice of ‘shopper dockets’ and the lack of independent or open access fuel terminals.

“The Federal Government needs to implement policies that encourage multilayered growth of businesses within the petroleum industry.

“This means tackling the ‘shopper docket’ programs in the retail sector, and addressing the deficiency in supply competition in the wholesale market, created by the limited opportunities for independent fuel importing.

“We encourage competitive tension in the fuel industry, as this produces the best outcome for consumers.

“But what we need to see in Australia is a situation where small and big business play off level footing.

“If BP is hurting today, you can only imagine the pain independent operators have felt up to now.”

Background:

The Australasian Convenience and Petroleum Marketers Association (ACAPMA) is a notforprofit employer organisation that has represented the interests of businesses in the petroleum distribution and petrol convenience industries for over 38 years.

As the leading association and national peak body responsible for the development and growth of the petroleum distribution and petrol convenience retail industries, ACAPMA members include over 90 per cent of the 120 businesses that operate in petroleum distribution and storage, while representing through direct ownership, operation or supply – over 3,500 service stations. ACAPMA’s membership profile in the main is independent smalltomedium businesses operating in metropolitan as well as regional and rural Australia.