Australia’s fuel supply to get more difficult in coming months: PM
Canberra, March 27 (IANS/GURPUNEET SIDHU) Australia’s fuel supply looks good in the short term, but it will get more difficult in the coming months, said Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Friday.
Addressing a press conference in Parliament House in Canberra over the escalating fuel crisis facing the country, Albanese said the government is “working around the clock” to “have the strongest possible plan,” and get ready and over-prepared for what may come.
Albanese noted his “positive” engagements with Malaysia, a critical supplier of oil to Australia, and with the wider ASEAN region.
Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen said the country’s supply of petrol, diesel, and oil remains the same.
“The government has always acknowledged there are real and unacceptable shortages in regional Australia as the demand has spiked so much, and it’s taken time for that strong domestic supply,” said Bowen.
Albanese will also convene a national cabinet meeting on Monday over the fuel crisis.
Earlier in the day, Opposition Leader Angus Taylor called on the government to temporarily halve the fuel excise for three months.
The government on Wednesday conceded that about 470 service stations around the country have run out of at least one type of fuel, Xinhua news agency reported.
Earlier on March 24, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) had reported that Australia now has only two domestic refineries still operating, while more than 80 per cent of its petrol, diesel and jet fuel is imported, almost all of it from Asia. ABC had added that much of the crude oil used by Asian refiners comes from the Middle East and is mainly shipped through the Strait of Hormuz.
The report had said the global oil market is facing severe supply disruption and that markets still appear to be underestimating the duration and damage of the shock. It had noted that even if the Strait of Hormuz reopens, shipping insurance may not recover quickly, meaning the impact on both the global and Australian economies could worsen.
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