Fuel Industry Background

In Western Australia, most of our retail fuel products are produced by one oil major - BP.

BP's Kwinana refinery, located just south of Perth, imports most of its crude oil, the base unit for fuel products, from across the globe to produce WA's entire range of fuel products. Crude oil imports come from the Middle East, Indonesia, West Africa, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and north-west Australia. 

Some fuel products are imported into Western Australia, most notably by oil companies contracted to supply fuel to large-scale mining operations in the north-west of the State, but all fuel sold in WA must comply with state and federal government quality standards.

Fuel products produced by BP's refinery include unleaded petrol (ULP), premium unleaded petrol (PULP), diesel, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), and 98 RON.

WA Fuel Retail Industry Market Structure

Retailers or petrol stations are broadly categorised according to their business structure. The oil majors own refineries and terminals, and may even be involved in oil exploration. The independents tend to be smaller operators running retail outlets only.

In WA we have:

• Branded independent sites - owned and operated by an individual or small company but have the branding of a major oil company brand. 
• Company controlled sites or price supported sites - have their prices set directly or indirectly by a major oil company. These can be operated directly by an oil company or operated on their behalf by a franchisee. 
• Distributor controlled sites - are owned and operated by fuel distributors. 
• Independent sites - are not branded by an oil company or chain brand. 
• Independent chain sites - are owned by a large independent company not aligned or owned by a major oil company. 
• Supermarket sites - are operated by major supermarket chains with an alliance with a major oil company.