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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 7 Hansard (2 July) . . Page.. 2248 ..

MR OSBORNE

While this change may appear reasonably small, it has a large impact on the service stations of Canberra.

The ACT is the only State or Territory in Australia where the average temperature of petrol sold at a retail level is less that the average delivery temperature.

The effect of this temperature differential means that over the course of a average year all service stations in Canberra will have paid the oil companies for approx 1-1.5 per cent more petrol than they would have had available to sell.

For those Canberra servos of slightly above average throughput this would equate to just over 70,000 litres or a $50,000 loss for the year.

How does this happen?

The answer is simple, Mr Speaker, the climate in Sydney where our petrol comes from is warmer than Canberra.

Consequently, the temperature of petrol when it leaves Sydney will always be warmer than when it is later transferred into an underground tank in a service station in Canberra.

And as it cools it reduces in volume.

Obviously, Mr Speaker, this difference in temperature is more of a problem in winter time than in summer.

During the winter months our service stations will lose nearly 2 per cent of all of the fuel which they receive.

Take today as a typical winter example.

The expected temperature today in Sydney is 20 degrees, in Canberra it is 12 degrees.

The ground temperature today in Canberra at a depth of 10 feet (where the servo underground petrol tanks are located) would be near zero degrees.

While the fuel in these tanks is not that cold, it would be at least 12-15 or so degrees cooler than when it left Sydney.

Heat is generated during the petrol refining process which can have newly refined petrol reach around 40 degrees.

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