"Australia's fuel supply therefore becomes more reliant on industry's ability to source and ship the necessary fuels when required," he wrote on the Parliamentary Library's blog, FlagPost, in December. The Australian Government has purchased $94m of oil at rock bottom prices, but where will it be stored and how will it contribute to fuel security? Read more This could have consequences if global supply chains are severely disrupted.
What does it mean for Australia's fuel security?Īccording to Dr Hunter Laidlaw from the Parliamentary Library, as Australia's refineries have closed our refining capacity and capability has diminished and we've become more dependent on imports of already-refined fuel. Roughly 20 years ago, Australia had eight refineries that met virtually all of our domestic demand for refined fuel. It's an inexorable decline for the industry. Meanwhile, Australian fuel giant Ampol, which owns an oil refinery in Brisbane - one of the last two remaining in Australia (with the other being Viva Energy's oil refinery in Geelong, Victoria) - is reviewing whether to keep its refinery open or convert it into a fuel import terminal, too. It, too, will be turned into a fuel-import terminal.ĮxxonMobil's decision will leave Australia with just two oil refineries. Now, a few months later, ExxonMobil has announced the closure of its Altona oil refinery in Melbourne, saying it was no longer economically viable. Its decision meant the number of oil refineries in Australia would decline from four to three. It blamed the regional over-supply of fuel and the growth of mega-refineries in Asia and the Middle East that had structurally changed the regional fuel market, saying Kwinana couldn't compete with those overseas refineries anymore. The oil major said the refinery - Australia's largest - was no longer economically viable. In October, BP announced it was closing its Kwinana oil refinery in Perth and converting it into a fuel import terminal. In the space of four months, Australia has lost half of its remaining oil refineries.
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