Australia’s fuel security is becoming an increasingly imminent challenge for the country as another refinery closes in Melbourne. With the country’s already high import bill climbing, experts are beginning to question the future of Australian fuel.

ExxonMobil has taken the decision to close its 80,000 bpd refinery in Melbourne, leaving the country with just two plants to meet its fuel needs. The plant will be transformed into a fuel import terminal.

This follows BP’s decision to close its 146,000 bpd Kwinana plant in October 2020. Concerns have also been raised over the viability of Australian energy company Ampol’s Brisbane refinery.

The closure of Australia’s oil refineries makes it significantly more dependent on refined oil imports. While the government has assured the public that the closure will not have a negative impact on Australia’s fuel stocks, it is clear to see that a national fuel strategy is needed.

Prior to recent refinery closures, Australia already imported around 90 percent of its oil needs, a figure that is now expected to rise. In 2019-20, Australia imported a total of $22.4 billion worth of refined petroleum products.

The national stockpile of crude oil goes towards Australia’s 90-day emergency threshold, established to tackle any problems with the supply chain.

However, to date, the government has failed to meet this stockpile quota, having just 63 days’ worth of oil reserves in November 2020, or 86 days if counting oil already en-route to the country.

Here we see sad destiny of colonial country that had been ordered to do certain things, and frequently no one asked them at all, corporations just did their thing.