Anthony Albanese says there is no “imminent” plan to shift the nation towards stage three of the fuel security plan, declaring Australia was continuing to source enough petrol and diesel because of more trade with the US, Argentina and Algeria.
After a virtual national cabinet meeting on Thursday, the Prime Minister said the “trigger” for moving from stage two to stage three of the fuel security plan would be if fuel import supply began to reduce.
“At this stage, what we have is normal supply. The number of ships that we would have expected to be coming to Australia are coming at this point in time.”
However, Mr Albanese said securing ongoing fuel supply was “obviously dependent upon how long the war goes for”.
The industry typically secures its supply four to six weeks ahead of time, giving the government that timeframe to prepare for an escalation of the fuel security plan if it is apparent there is a pending shortfall in petrol, diesel and jet fuel.
Stage three of the plan would likely see a ramping up of voluntary measures: asking Australians to work from home, avoid air travel, car pool, catch public transport and driving slower.
With the vast majority of Australia’s fuel suppliers traditionally from Asia refining crude oil from the Middle East, Mr Albanese said about 18 per cent of fuel was coming from the US and more than 10 per cent from Argentina.
Securing about a third of supply outside of Asia is a huge shift from trading ahead of the Middle East war. Last year, Singapore was responsible for 55 per cent of Australia’s petrol imports, with 99 per cent of imports coming from Asia, according to Australian Petroleum Statistics.
Nearly 80 per cent of Australia’s diesel imports in 2025 came from South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei, with “other economies” responsible for 21 per cent.
At least 92 per cent of jet fuel imports in 2025 were from Asia.
“We’ll continue to work to diversify where we can get fuel from,” Mr Albanese said.
Australia has 46 days worth of petrol supply – higher than before the conflict began – 30 days of jet fuel and 31 days of diesel.
The Australian reported on Thursday that the Albanese government had held discussions with energy companies over the potential to help develop new oil refining capacity.
Mr Albanese told the ABC he had not received a specific proposal for a new oil refinery but had “received vibes”.
The government has amended the investment mandate of the NRF allowing it to invest in petrol and diesel capacity.
Angus Taylor said the government needed to “drill quickly” to sure up future oil supply. “It is just too hard right now to get approvals and to drill, and it needs to be easier,” the Opposition Leader said.
“I mean, in fact, Labor has put through environmental legislation in recent months that makes it harder to drill for oil and gas. This is a hopeless situation.”
Grattan Institute senior fellow Tony Wood said the government should use the budget to increase the nation’s capacity to store more fuel.
“While there is a lot of excitement with electrification (of trucks) and I think it is something we should do … I think we still have a have a problem with long distance,” he said.
“We will need to increase our onshore storage. And to do it, you would have to build more tanks.
“You can’t just say: fill up the ones you have got.
“I think we have got to come to a view of how much more we should spend to increase our onshore storage, recognising this is about insurance.”
Extracted in full from: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/asia-fuel-supply-drops-as-anthony-albanese-seeks-other-sources/news-story/3db653e963780ff7a37036f80af7e733
