Ampol will withhold approximately 150 million litres of refined fuels from the market over the Christmas period due to an extended maintenance shutdown at its Lytton refinery in Queensland. The company has delayed the restart of a key processing unit until mid-November after discovering additional work was needed during inspections carried out as part of a planned maintenance shutdown.
The issue involves the refractory relining of the fluidised catalytic cracking unit, a crucial component in fuel refining. To accommodate this work, Ampol advanced maintenance activities on one of the refinery’s crude units, extending the overall turnaround schedule. The company described completing the additional repairs within the current maintenance window as the most economically efficient option, leveraging labour already mobilized on site.
Ampol emphasized that, despite the extended shutdown, customer fuel supply is not expected to be affected. The decision comes amid ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and broader constraints on fuel supplies, which have highlighted concerns about Australia’s ability to maintain consistent availability of refined petroleum products.
The extended maintenance period coincides with favorable market conditions for Ampol. The company has reported increased underlying operating earnings in the second half of 2025 relative to its average quarterly results, supported by higher regional refining margins and the continued expansion of its convenience retail network. Total fuel sales volumes for the group rose 3.6 percent to 6.245 billion litres in the September quarter compared with the same period a year earlier.
Domestically, Australian fuel volumes declined by 2.3 percent to 3.551 billion litres, with wholesale volumes falling 19 percent to 2.081 billion litres. In contrast, international fuel sales grew significantly by 23 percent to 1.841 billion litres. Ampol also noted strong performance in its retail operations, with double-digit growth in headline shop sales, coupled with improvements in shop gross margins and average basket values compared to the prior year.
The Lytton refinery remains a critical component of Australia’s fuel infrastructure, and the company’s approach to maintenance reflects an effort to balance operational efficiency with supply reliability heading into 2027.