Fuel Price

[skippydiesel]

"Bottom line, yes Australia does import ‘some’ Avgas, but the volumes are small, probably because the consumption is small."

 

Hmmm! "....volumes are small..."

 

Please elaborate;

 

By what measure? If you are comparing with the USA, yes their pilot populating is huge compared with ours.

OR

Are you saying that Au is almost self-sufficient in AvGas, so has no need of significant imports of the fuel?

😈

[Reynard]

An earlier poster indicated he had been told that 100% of Avgas consumed in Oz, was produced locally. My post was to provide data that Oz does import ‘some’ Avgas. 
 

in relative terms to mogas and diesel that are both produced locally and imported, the Australian consumption of Avgas is very small. I have no data to compare Avgas consumption with other countries. Additionally, it should be obvious the consumption of Avtur vastly outweighs that of Avgas in Australia.

[Love to fly]

27 minutes ago, Reynard said:

The import stats in the attached file seem very ‘lumpy’, and don’t really provide much insight.  Unless the Geelong refinery alkylation unit was down for an extended period in 2024 ?? - unlikely.

Bottom line, yes Australia does import ‘some’ Avgas, but the volumes are small, probably because the consumption is small.

 

Australian Petroleum Statistics - Data Extract January 2026.xlsx 2.61 MB · 1 download

Thanks. So why the increase in price, and reduced availability? 

[Reynard]

Excellent question!  You would think that Avgas demand would not have significantly changed over the past month, so something doesn’t stack up.

[facthunter]

Priorities?  Nev

[Reynard]

Probably - available fuel tankers (and DG drivers) all tied up trying to keep up with petrol and diesel demand, while Avgas was further down the list.

[T510]

The cost to get the avgas to the airports would have gone up considerably, the trucks delivering it still need Diesel to get there.

[Student Pilot]

2 hours ago, Love to fly said:

Thanks. So why the increase in price, and reduced availability? 

Because they can, free enterprise is charge what you can. If the demand is greater then cash in and profits are greater. The idea is to make as much money as you can, fairness or equity doesn't come into the equation. 

[facthunter]

Like reselling Footy tickets.  Nev

[kgwilson]

The demand for Avgas has declined considerably over the past few years. There are a number of reasons. There are fewer old aircraft that need Avgas and many of those still flying do not fly as much. The rise of recreational aircraft that do not need Avgas has been very substantial since the 90s. Modern aviation aircraft engines don't need it either. Diesel engines are appearing in ever increasing numbers.

 

The only reason I ever use Avgas is that it is the only fuel available at many aerodromes when I am away. I have used 95 or 98 petrol in my 3300A engine since new. No more lead deposits or fouled plugs.

 

World Fuel & IOR have been busy installing self contained Avgas units at many regional aerodromes over the last few years often at no cost to the aerodrome. They need to boost their share of a dwindling market.

[coljones]

11 minutes ago, kgwilson said:

The demand for Avgas has declined considerably over the past few years. There are a number of reasons. There are fewer old aircraft that need Avgas and many of those still flying do not fly as much. The rise of recreational aircraft that do not need Avgas has been very substantial since the 90s. Modern aviation aircraft engines don't need it either. 

 

World Fuel & IOR have been busy installing self contained Avgas units at many regional aerodromes over the last few years often at no cost to the aerodrome. They need to boost their share of a dwindling market.

IOR has just installed a Mogas facility at Camden.

[BurnieM]

1 hour ago, coljones said:

IOR has just installed a Mogas facility at Camden.

I wonder about the viability of MOGAS at an airport.

 

Often you can get it significantly cheaper at a servo.

You just have to be prepared to hump the jerry cans.

 

[coljones]

8 hours ago, BurnieM said:

I wonder about the viability of MOGAS at an airport.

 

Often you can get it significantly cheaper at a servo.

You just have to be prepared to hump the jerry cans.

 

I suspect that the outline means that mogas is not available so I'm not sure how accurate the price is.

[skippydiesel]

11 hours ago, coljones said:

IOR has just installed a Mogas facility at Camden.

Maaaate what country do you hail from??????

 

MoGas is a USA marketing constriction of the term Motor Gasoline - Gasoline (Gas) being the US popular name for petroleum (petrol).

 

In Australia we use the more acurate descriptor - Unleaded Petroleum (ULP). Petroleum often shortened to petrol or ULP. ULP commonly comes in 98, 95, 91 RON & E10 (Ethanol 10% blend).

 

 "MoGas  Regional" is also the name of a fuel distribution company.

 

In all cases a cringeworthy attempt to define their offering as something special, (marketing hype) by adopting an overseas term -sad!.

 

A ULP supply at Camden airfield, will struggle as the vast majority of aircraft at that local are powered by LyCons (likly users of AvGas ). This combined with being a tower controlled airfield means few RAA level aircraft ( often ULP users) frequent the facility.

 

😈

 

 

[coljones]

It appears that IOR is calling its unleaded petrol AvPULP.

AvPULP: Paving the Way for A Greener Future - IOR | Fuelling Australia

WWW.IOR.COM.AU

---

In the 1920s, Thomas Midgley Jr., a 30-year-old industrial chemist, introduced tetraethyllead into motor spirit to combat...

 

It is possible that a number of users at YSCN will own VH aircraft that have had the conversion to lead free or will take the opportunity to convert.

When one is out in the boonies it is sometimes difficult to get AvGas and it is significantly cheaper to refuel with MOGAS, PULP or AvPULP (choose your poison)

Edited 12 hours ago by coljones
Link to IOR

[Kiwi]

3 hours ago, skippydiesel said:

Maaaate what country do you hail from?????

 

 

 

I call Avgas "AvGas"  

Do you call it AvPetroleum?

Edited 12 hours ago by Kiwi

[Moneybox]

I'd rather pay a little more for Avgas from the bowser than travel into town and fill jerry cans. So far I've not had the chance of filling from a bowser, it's several trips into town with a couple of jerry cans costing more in the long run.

[Garfly]

Mogas is a useful term to distinguish it from Avgas in an aviation context.

[kgwilson]

OK I'll be the pedant here. Petrol comes from petroleum, a.k.a crude oil, which comes from the Greek words petra (rock) and oleum (oil). Gasoline though, has no obvious Greek or Latin roots. Not only that, but the gas part of the word is quite confusing, as gasoline is of course a liquid. And it doesn’t help that it’s generally shortened to gas in American English. So Avgas is an American term that has become standard in the Aviation world. Mogas though does not have that standardisation.. Americans don't call it Mogas, it is just Gas or gasoline. There is no rhyme nor reason for why but Americans change things at will and they become common ( except the Gulf of Mexico is not the Gulf of America. Any change made by Trump is just invalid)

[skippydiesel]

1 hour ago, Garfly said:

Mogas is a useful term to distinguish it from Avgas in an aviation context.

You jest.

 

There is no MoGas in AU. Its just a marketing/sales gimmick, that can only confuse those looking for a suitable ULP fuel.

 

Rotax recomend 98 RON (best knock resistance) or if you must, 95 RON, for its 100 hp & up.  For the 80 hp you can go as low as 91 RON . Note: MoGas is not mentioned.

 

I suspect that even the LYCon's, that can use ULP, will be looking for 98 RON. 

 

Its the the ULP of your choice OR AvGas (including lead)

 

😈

[Garfly]

No jest. No contest.  

[Reynard]

Oil refiners routinely call it Mogas.
It is the cut from the atmospheric distillation column where ~C5 to C10 hydrocarbons condense and are separated…..and after a little more refining and blending becomes what we call petrol.  I don’t know the exact origin of the word mogas, but understood it to be a simple shortening of motor gasoline.

 

Outside the refinery gate, I have only heard the term used in aviation - I can only assume it is used to differentiate its use from Avgas.
I don’t see a lot of mystery and intrigue here.

[facthunter]

 Skip.. if you wish to be a Pedant ,  explain what is a  LYcon?  A lot of this is Much Adoo  about nothing. Nev

[BrendAn]

[onetrack]

 Is the term MoGas used in any formal handbooks or formal aviation literature? Only in terms of it being an "unofficial" word, from what I have seen. In other words, aviation "slang".

 

But strangely, CASA use the term TWICE in the following advisory document (page 11 and page 40) - without including it in Acronyms or Definitions! 

 

https://www.casa.gov.au/fuel-and-oil-safety