PETROLEUM AND OTHER FUELS REPORTING SCHEME
Guidance Note for Stockholding Reporting
This note gives guidance on the reporting of petroleum stockholdings under section 17 of the POFR Rules only. Petroleum stocks held at refineries, processing plants or production fields and biofuel stocks held in biofuel plants should not be reported here.
Section One: IntroductionFrom 1 January 2018, businesses, who undertake covered activities in relation to covered products, are required to report to the Australian Government Department of the Environment and Energy if they meet the criteria set out in the Petroleum and Other Fuels Reporting Act 2017 (the POFR Act) and the Petroleum and Other Fuels Reporting Rules 2017 (the POFR Rules).
Legislation and meaning of terms
Many of the terms used in this guidance note are defined in the POFR Act and the POFR Rules, including ‘covered product’, ‘covered activity’ and ‘holding stock’.
The POFR Act can be found at: https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2017C00348, and the POFR Rules at: https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2017L01469.
In this guidance note, ‘business’ has the same meaning as ‘regulated entity’ under the POFR Act.
Who must report?
A reporting obligation arises where either:
· a business, at the end of a reporting period, holds at least 3,000 tonnes (roughly 4 million litres) of covered products in stock; or
· a business wholesaled more than 3,000 tonnes of covered products in the previous financial year.
When and how to submit reports.
Reports for all stockholdings of covered products, other than the two exceptions below, have a monthly reporting period. These reports are due 15 days after the end of the calendar month being reported on.
Reports for stockholdings of petroleum coke have a yearly reporting period and are due four months after the end of the financial year. Reports for stockholdings of greases, lubricants, oils, waxes and solvents (GLOWS) have a half yearly reporting period and are due on 31 July and 31 January every year.
Businesses must use the Department’s Stockholding Reporting template to report their activities, and completed reports must be sent via email to
If you require assistance.
You can find out more information about mandatory reporting at www.environment.gov.au/energy/energy-security-office/international-engagement/mandatory-reporting-petroleum-data.
You can find out more information on the petroleum statistics produced by the Department at: www.environment.gov.au/energy/petroleum-statistics.
If you require further information, please email the Department at or call 02 6274 2500.Section Two: Completing the Template
General information
When completing the template, businesses should enter data into the white cells. Green cells in the template automatically generate totals and sub-totals, but these can be overwritten if necessary. Grey cells are locked and cannot be edited. There is a comments section for each product which allows free text entry and can be used to supply additional information.
Please enter your business’s name and the month and year that the report relates to at the top of the “In Australia” section (tab 1). This information is automatically copied to the other sections.
Products are grouped into categories for reporting and definitions for each product category are provided below. It is unlikely that you will need to report against all the categories.
The Department will review the suitability of the reporting categories in 2018. If you believe a category should be added or removed, please let us know.
The Template
The template must be completed by listed product category. These are set out on the left hand side of the template. The reporting template requests information in three sections. One is for stockholdings of covered products held in Australia, the second is for stockholdings of covered products held overseas and the last one is for stockholdings of covered products on water that are in transit to Australia.
The template covers all products that are reportable under the scheme, this includes blended products such as E10, B5, premium diesel, etc. Where blending occurs at the loading gantry please report stocks of all the blending components (e.g. ULP and ethanol) separately in the most appropriate category. Please leave any category which is not relevant to your business blank.
Units of Measure
Quantities must be reported in whole metric tonnes (no decimal places) and each product’s average density should be reported in kilograms per litre.
If the density for each product is not readily available each month, the most recent density measurement should be used. If no measurement is available, a typical or average value may be entered, which should be reviewed and updated as appropriate.
Density information is required to derive volumetric information that the Department needs for various statistical reports. It must be adjusted to standard temperature and pressure conditions of 15oC and 1 atmosphere pressure.
Reporting Difficulties
Businesses with difficultly reporting should contact the Department as early as possible to discuss the issues and options to resolve them. Please email the Department at or call 02 6274 2500.
Partially loaded or unloaded stockIf the loading or unloading of a product has commenced at the time your stocks are measured but has not yet completed, the full amount should be reported as though the loading/unloading was complete. For example:
If a tanker with 10,000 tonnes of product to deliver is moored at an Australian port and only 100 tonnes have been unloaded at month-end, the full 10,000 tonnes should be reported as a stock of that product in the “In Australia” tab under the state in which it will be unloaded. (If nothing had been unloaded at month-end, the 10,000 tonnes would be reported under ‘Domestic shipping’ in the ‘On Water’ tab.)
The ‘In Australia’ Section
This section covers all stock that is owned by your business and is held, on land, in Australia. Please enter the total quantity of stock you owned by the state and territory it was located in at the end of the month. Include any stock held in the ACT in the NSW column.
Including:· Product held at import terminals;
· Product held at marketing and other bulk terminals;
· Product held at refinery terminals (but only if you have taken ownership of the stock and are awaiting delivery from the refinery – Refiners should report their stocks separately in the Refining Report);
· Product of aviation fuel held at airports, including joint venture arrangements such as JUHI;
· Stocks of marine fuel held at marine depots. / Excluding:
· Product that you do not own that is held by you on behalf of another company;
· Product held wholly or principally for use by households and private individuals;
· Product held at service stations or at retail stores;
· Product held in a personal vehicle (e.g. a car), road tanker (e.g. fuel truck), rail tank car or fuel pipeline;
· Product held in a ship’s bunker (i.e. fuel for the purpose of powering the ship);
· Product held exclusively for the use of the Australian Defence Force or another military force.
If you own a covered product that is commingled with other businesses’ stock (including airport joint ventures e.g. JUHI), you should only include your portion of the commingled stock. Any volume that is ‘owing’ to a commingled stock should be counted as a negative volume.
Do not include any amounts belonging to other businesses in tanks or facilities that you own or operate (whether a fee for storage is charged or not).
The ‘Overseas’ Section
This section covers stockholdings of covered products that your business owned and, under a contract, was kept in storage by another person outside of Australia. In this case, your business must have the contractual right to take possession of the covered product by removing it from storage, and the covered product must be held for use in Australia.
Please record the country or countries where this stock was stored. You can insert extra rows into the spreadsheet if required.
Please note that “held in storage” does not necessarily mean long term storage.
Do not report stock held in tanker ships. This should be reported in the ‘On Water’ section.
Including:· Product held at overseas storage, including export and refinery terminals, if that product is held for use by your business in Australia. / Excluding:
· Product held in a tanker ship
· Product held overseas that is not held for use in Australia; and
· Product held in a ship’s bunker (i.e. fuel for the purpose of powering the ship).
The ‘On Water’ Section
This section covers stocks of major covered products that are held in a seagoing tanker ship in transit to Australia. Your business should report products that you own and will continue to own upon arrival in Australia, as well as products your business does not currently own but will own when the products arrive in Australia. For example, where your stock will be owned by an overseas seller or trader until it is unloaded in Australia.
In this case, the covered product should only be reported if it is intended to be unloaded from the ship at an Australian port, and is not stored in the ship’s bunker.
Report in the appropriate category that applied at the end of the reporting period (not the current status of the stock).
The reporting categories are:
1. “In Foreign Ports”: report the total quantity of stock of a covered product owned at the end of the reporting period (or that will be owned after it is unloaded in Australia) stored in tankers in foreign ports which is yet to leave the port of loading. Please record the country or countries where the tankers were located.
2. “High Seas”: report the total quantity of stock owned at the end of the reporting period (or that will be owned after it is unloaded in Australia) which was stored in tankers that had left a foreign port but had not yet entered Australia’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
3. “EEZ”: report the total quantity of stock of a covered product owned at the end of the reporting period (or that will be owned after it is unloaded in Australia) which was stored in tankers that have entered Australia’s EEZ but were yet to meet the conditions of ‘domestic shipping’ (see below).
4. “Domestic Shipping”: report the total quantity of stock of a covered product owned at the end of the reporting period (or that will be owned after it is unloaded in Australia) which is stored in a tanker that:
a. is at an Australian port; or
b. has issued a “notice of readiness” with respect to an Australian port in preparation for unloading; or
c. is travelling between two Australian ports (if the vessel will later unload cargo in an overseas port, only the amount to be unloaded in Australia should be counted).
If a vessel has been loaded in a foreign port but has not yet issued a notice of readiness in Australia and the exact location is not known, stocks should be reported under either 'High seas', or ‘EEZ’, whichever you reasonably believe to be more likely.
When reporting on stocks of covered products stored overseas and in foreign ports, please provide separate quantities for each country in which a product is located. You must list all the countries where stock is held and can insert extra rows into the spreadsheet if required.
Including:· Product loaded on board a tanker that is in a foreign port, if that product is destined for Australia;
· Product which is on board a tanker that is in transit to, or has arrived in, Australia, if that product is destined for Australia. / Excluding:
· Product held in a ship’s bunker (i.e. fuel for the purpose of powering the ship);
· Product held on-water that is not destined to be unloaded in Australia.
Product definitions (rows)
Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)Propane / Propane gas in proportions greater than 95% that has been liquefied under pressure.
Butane / Butane gas in proportions greater than 95% that has been liquefied under pressure.
Mixtures of propane or butane / Mixtures of liquefied propane and butane containing more than 5% of both gases. Exclude the weight of any other commingled compounds that account for more than 10% of the total weight
Automotive gasoline
Regular Unleaded Gasoline (< 95 RON) / Automotive gasoline (petrol, motor spirit) with a Research Octane Number less than 94.5.
Premium Unleaded Gasoline (95-97 RON) / Automotive gasoline (petrol, motor spirit) with a Research Octane Number in the range of 94.5 to 97.4 inclusive. Include proprietary and non-proprietary blends.
Premium Unleaded Gasoline (98 RON+) / Automotive gasoline (petrol, motor spirit) with a Research Octane Number equal to or higher than 97.5. Include proprietary and non-proprietary blends.
Ethanol Blended Gasoline (E10) / A blend of automotive gasoline (of any grade) and ethanol where the proportion of ethanol is up to 10% of the total volume.
Ethanol Blended Gasoline (E85) / A blend of automotive gasoline (of any grade) and ethanol where the proportion of ethanol between 75-85% of the total volume.
Ethanol Blended Gasoline (Other Blends) / A blend of automotive gasoline (of any grade) and ethanol which does not meet the requirements for E10 or E85. Do not include Pure ethanol (E100) here. E100 should be reported under biofuel.
Automotive Gasoline (All Others) / All automotive gasoline products not included elsewhere.
Diesel
Automotive Diesel - Regular / Primarily a medium distillate that is intended for use in land-based automotive vehicles.
Automotive Diesel - Premium / Primarily a medium distillate that is intended for use in land-based automotive vehicles.
Premium diesel typically has a higher cetane rating than regular diesel and contains additives that provide superior lubricity and cleaning performance.
Automotive biodiesel blend - B5 / Blends of diesel and biodiesel sold as B5.
Automotive biodiesel blends - B10 / Blends of diesel and biodiesel sold as B10.
Automotive biodiesel blends - B20 / Blends of diesel and biodiesel sold as B20.
Automotive biodiesel blends - other / Any other blends of diesel and biodiesel should be reported here. Do not include Pure biodiesel (B100) here.