‘Not out of the woods’: Bali fuel crisis triggers major warning for Australia

Scenes of motorists queuing at petrol stations for hours in Balinese cities were sparked after problems unloading a single tanker ship carrying 22 million litres of diesel this week.

News.com.au is aware of Australian expats and tourists having difficulty hailing taxi services like Grab and Gojek, or accessing fuel for their own vehicles.

People have opted to walk, sometimes several kilometres, instead of waiting in line or for cabs to arrive.

Saul Kavonic, head of energy research at MST Marquee, said the scenes in Bali were a window into how quickly a situation can deteriorate.

“It’s another signal how tight the diesel market is and we are not out of the woods on this front,” he said.

Mr Kavonic recently said Australia would be “top of the list” of nations that would be worst hit by major shortages due to having the lowest oil stocks in the OECD.

He previously estimated diesel could hit $4 per litre as US President Donald Trump weighed an oil export ban to preserve more local supply and curb ballooning local prices.

“Australia is a large exporter of just about everything. The one thing that we’re not is on fuel,” Mr Kavonic said.

“And so that’s our one vulnerability. And so now I think that is the case to say we have to build that sovereign capability again. So we’re at least partially self-sufficient once more.”

The US ban did not come to pass after the EU struck a deal to release 100 million barrels of diesel to the market from its emergency stockpiles.

Mr Kavonic said the deal had removed a “major compounding risk, for now at least”.

But it appeared Mr Trump was still concerned about local diesel stock after he last week announced a shock agreement with global pariah Russia.

The deal, which blindsided Europe and Ukraine, was expected to bring almost two million tonnes of diesel to the global markets over the next three months.

“Diesel Prices for Americans and, indeed, the World, will be COMING DOWN, IN RECORD NUMBERS, AND FAST!” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Gas prices have exploded in the US while its government pursued war in Iran, with the American Petroleum Institute estimating this week crude oil inventories fell by 11.12 million barrels in the week ending October 9.

In the week prior, US crude oil inventories fell by 2.09 million barrels, according to a report by oilprice.com.

Meanwhile, on Friday two ships were sunk in the Strait of Hormuz as conflict continued to rage in the critical trade route.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps has claimed it was attacking multiple ships each night.

In Bali on Tuesday, Governor I Wayan Koster ordered government employees to work from home for three days starting Thursday, while schools and universities switch to online learning over the same period.

He said the measures were meant to help make fuel distribution easier.

Petrol costs as little as 90 Australian cents per litre, but motorists have faced long waits as supplies of fuel products Pertalite and – at some locations – Pertamax became increasingly difficult to find.

Disruptions began on October 12 across Denpasar, Badung and petrol stations near I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport, with traffic congestion along Tuban Road leading towards the airport.

Petrol stations in Denpasar and Badung will be open 24 hours, while deliveries from depots will be carried out around the clock to speed up distribution, he said.

The supply disruption was due to delays in distribution after a tanker had trouble discharging its cargo, Simon Aloysius Mantiri, director of state-owned oil and gas firm Pertamina, said on Tuesday along with an apology.

Mr Wayan said the tanker carrying more than 22 million litres of fuel had arrived in Bali on Tuesday, with the supplies expected to be able to meet demand on the resort island for up to the next seven days.

“People don’t need to worry because the fuel is available,” he added, noting more fuel shipments are expected to arrive within this week.

Ni Wayan Susiani, 22, said she had to wait around five hours before she managed to buy fuel for her motorbike, adding that the situation had left her “annoyed”.

“My hope is that this is the last day like this. Hopefully it can return to normal in the days to come,” the hotel worker said.

Extracted in full from:  https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/warnings/not-out-of-the-woods-bali-fuel-crisis-triggers-major-warning-for-australia/news-story/776fb834a98cdc1cdd1573130e34998a