Did Adrian Portelli PREDICT the fuel crisis? Billionaire couldn't have picked a better moment to unveil his latest lucrative venture

By ASHLEY NICKEL, NEWS REPORTER, AUSTRALIA Published: 11:52, 16 April 2026 | Updated: 11:52, 16 April 2026 Australian billionaire Adrian Portelli is set to open the first location for his own chain of service stations before the end of this month. Portelli, 36, announced his petrol pump venture as part of an extension to LMCT+, his subscription-based rewards club, in December 2025. The price of fuel in Australia doubled for drivers in the weeks after conflict broke out in the Middle East and Iran closed shipping passage the Strait of Hormuz, with some service stations even running dry.   But months before the ongoing fuel crisis began, Portelli said that his service stations would offer 'discount' fuel prices, with the first location to open in Melbourne.  'The big players in the petrol game didn't want to give you guys discounted fuel, so Adrian's gone out and bought his own to give members a whopping fuel discount,' LMCT+ said in its December announcement. 'Get ready because next year you're going to start seeing LMCT+ petrol stations roll out across Australia.' In an update last week, Portelli announced the first of the petrol stations would open within a fortnight. The project is a conversion from a Shell site on the corner of Gower Street and Plenty Road in Preston, about 10km north of Melbourne's CBD. 'The final two-week countdown!' he wrote online. 'It genuinely is surreal seeing this come to life and I got emotional seeing that LMCT+ logo hanging loud and proud!' Adrian Portelli's subscription-based rewards club, LMCT+, will open a service station before the end of the month (pictured is the concept image) Portelli (above) announced the expansion of LMCT+ weeks before the conflict in the Middle East triggered massive fuel price jumps The servo (above) is set to offer 'discounted fuel' in Melbourne For those struggling to find E85, which has been in short supply due to the conflict in the Middle East, Portelli added: 'There will be E85 on site in some way shape or form.'  Hundreds of Aussies applauded Portelli's decision to open a service station - with some joking his ability to find fuel in a shortage was better than that of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. 'Bro can you replace Albo,' one wrote. 'This is awesome!' another said. But others shared their doubts about LMCT+'s expansion, especially given that the brand is most famous for its lotteries. Those competitions appear to be part of the new service stations with pictures showing an on-site 'Rewards Hub'. 'Can we not bring gambling into every aspect of our lives? I'm happy for you to expand, but exposing our kids to 'a chance to win' at every opportunity is a real bad idea,' one wrote. Photos from Portelli's latest update showed the bones of the service station were up with LMCT+ logos already plastered on the bowsers. Portelli last week said the service station (above) would open in two weeks' time A waitlist for the service station's (above) official opening has been created on the LMCT+ website Portelli claimed his service station (above) would even stock E85, which has been hard to find since conflict broke out in the Middle East A waitlist for LMCT+ fuel is available on the company's website but it's unclear when the first service station will officially open.  Portelli, from Melbourne, has an estimated worth of $1.4billion. He made the majority of wealth through his LMCT+ business, which exploited a loophole in gambling regulation, along with property investment and a super car collection. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.