Australia backs diesel purchases for WA
Sydney (9 June)
The Australian Government has underwritten 50 million litres of diesel purchases – through government funder Export Finance Australia – to build up Western Australia’s (WA) fuel reserves, it announced on 9 June.
BP – which previously bought imported fuel with EFA support in late April – will send the diesel to Perth, the Government said.
“Our government knows that despite the positive results we have had building up our fuel buffer, this is no time to stand still, which is why we continue to secure additional shipments in partnership with industry,” Energy Minister Chris Bowen said.
“Australia currently has 43 days’ worth of petrol, 36 days’ worth of diesel, and 30 days’ worth of jet fuel,” Bowen said on 6 June. Ships carrying another 1.8 billion litres of diesel will arrive in Australia over the next month, Bowen added.
The Federal Government’s diesel underwrite complements the WA Government’s fuel stockpiling scheme.
WA’s state government partnered with fuel supplier Cambridge Gulf Limited to create a state-owned fuel stockpile on 14 April. Cambridge Gulf has agreed to store up to 12 million litres of government-owned fuel at a facility in Kimberley to support remote communities and businesses.
Diesel prices in metropolitan WA averaged A$2.03/litre over 1-9 June, up from A$1.81/litre over February, before the US-Israeli war in Iran began, data from price monitor FuelWatch show. But diesel prices in Kimberley averaged A$2.81/litre over 1-9 June, up from A$2.07/litre over February, FuelWatch data show.
By Avinash Govind