The Mobil on Clayton Rd in Rotorua has not sold fuel since the start of August.
The Mobil on Clayton Rd in Rotorua has not sold fuel since the start of August.
For about two months, motorists stopping at a Rotorua petrol station have not been able to buy fuel, even as its shop remains open. Aleyna Martinez asks why.
Every week – often twice a week – for years, Rotorua truck driver Mokai Kingi has stopped at Mobil on Clayton Rd to fuel up.
But from about two months ago, he has been met with empty pricing boards and makeshift signs saying the business is “out of fuel”.
The loyal Mobil customer is among many in the community asking what is going on at the fuel station.
“Why is there no petrol?” asked a commenter on the business’ Facebook page last month.
The comment did not get a reply and the page has not posted since April 30.
On two Rotorua Daily Post visits to the Mobil last month, the “out of fuel” sign was taped to a yellow wheelie bin on the forecourt and the pricing board was blank. The shop and attached laundromat were open.
The staff member said he did not know why there was no fuel and the shop owners also had stores in Hamilton.
Kingi, who lives in Western Heights with his wife, said he had been going to the Clayton Rd Mobil “for 10 years” as it was on his way to and from work.
The Mobil station on Clayton Rd in Rotorua had no fuel available on September 23. Photo / Ben Fraser
Kingi said he first saw the “out of fuel” sign at the start of August.
Since then he had been driving an extra 6.8km to the Te Ngae Mobil to fuel up.
“I go to the other Mobil so I can keep earning [Mobile Smiles reward] points.”
Kingi said his 87-year-old father-in-law, another Mobil Clayton Rd customer, had expressed concern about the loss of convenience.
An "out of fuel" sign has been up on the Mobil Clayton Rd forecourt since the start of August.
A spokesman for the Clayton Rd service station, who said he was an owner in Gulati Group, told the Rotorua Daily Post in a September 25 email fuel was not available because of an upgrade to point-of-sale systems, and it aimed to be operational again in two to three weeks.
Kingi said fuel was still not available this week and the spokesman did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
A spokesman for Exxon Mobil told the Rotorua Daily Post the Mobil on Clayton Rd was a dealer-owned site.
“The Mobil retail network consists of company-owned sites, and dealer-owned, sites which are owned and run by independent operators.”
He declined to comment on other questions relating to the Clayton Rd site, including why it had no fuel, except to say Smiles customers could “collect their points at our other locations in the Rotorua area, which are Mobil Sunset, Mobil Reid & Mills and Mobil Te Ngae”.
Neither Gulati nor Mobil would comment on the lack of fuel.
In 2022, the Chronicle reported that Gulati was in charge of other Mobil-branded sites throughout the North Island, including in Morrinsville, Wairoa, Te Rapa and Frankton.
Meanwhile, fuel company Waitomo Group confirmed to the Chronicle this week it was set to take over former Mobil sites at Te Rapa and Frankton this month.
This story initially reported the owner as Gulati Enterprises Ltd. This has been corrected.
Aleyna Martinez is a multimedia journalist based in the Bay of Plenty. She moved to the region in 2024 and has previously reported in Wairarapa and at Pacific Media Network.
