Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is set to make an announcement related to fuel supply as he fronts his post-Cabinet press conference.

Luxon will front media at Parliament at about 4pm. A livestream will be played at the top of this article.

It’s understood Luxon will be speaking about the country’s fuel supply with a possible announcement in that area.

Yesterday, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) released the country’s latest fuel stock data, with a slight decrease across all fuel types since the previous update.

As of April 22, 51.8 days of petrol, 41.3 days of diesel and 45.7 days of jet fuel were either in the country or on the way.

Petrol has decreased by 0.4 days, diesel has decreased by one day and jet fuel has decreased by 1.7 days.

There are 36.1 days of petrol in the country now, down from 30.5. There are 21.9 days of diesel, down from 21.7, and 24.9 days of jet fuel, down from 26.1.

The ministry said “total national fuel stocks continue to be sufficient across petrol, diesel and jet fuel, and remain within normal operating ranges”.

“Although total diesel stocks are lower, diesel held in New Zealand and within the Exclusive Economic Zone is at its highest level since the Middle East conflict began.

“These fluctuations are typical of normal international shipping operations. Overall movements remain within expected ranges and show normal patterns.”

Speaking to media yesterday, Regulation Minister David Seymour and Transport Minister Chris Bishop said the Government was assessing whether to refine some vehicle regulations that make it harder for businesses and communities to cope with global fuel shocks.

Among the regulatory barriers the Government was looking at were allowing some heavy vehicles to carry more weight per trip to improve fuel efficiency, easing weight thresholds for zero-emission vehicles, and relaxing time and access restrictions for over-dimension vehicles.

All options were being developed to be implemented quickly if the Government moved to Phase 2 of its National Fuel Response Plan and were expected to be ready by the end of this month, if needed.

But Winston Peters, the NZ First leader, said on Tuesday he was “for using rail”.

“I’m not for these changes. These changes or these weight limits are put there for good reasons because of potholes and bridge strengths, and what have you,” he said.

“All of a sudden, they’re going to change it when they seize a chance to use the crisis to try and get the law changed. They’ve been trying for the last 30 years. No, we are not going to go down that pathway.”

He wasn’t clear on whether he would seek to stop the changes at Cabinet.

Peters, who is the Minister for Rail, said rail was “much more efficient” and “it’s back on track big time”.

Adam Pearse is the Deputy Political Editor and part of the NZ Herald’s Press Gallery team based at Parliament in Wellington. He has worked for NZME since 2018, reporting for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei and the Herald in Auckland.