{"id":546067,"date":"2026-03-17T11:19:28","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T11:19:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/546067\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T11:19:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T11:19:28","slug":"australian-importers-look-to-africa-us-for-options-as-refineries-cut-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/546067\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian importers look to Africa, US for options as refineries cut back"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Paul<\/p>\n

March 17, 2026 \u2014 7:30pm<\/p>\n

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Energy Minister Chris Bowen has moved to assure Australians that fuel will keep flowing into the country for a month, but fears of a shortage within weeks has prompted importers to look to Africa and the US for new sources of supply.<\/p>\n

As the opposition warned of an Easter crunch for fuel supply, the Albanese government on Tuesday did not rule out the prospect of rationing fuel as it seeks to bring spiralling demand in line with supply, though it said it was not intending to enact emergency measures.<\/p>\n

\"MinisterMinister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen.Alex Ellinghausen<\/p>\n

Days of panic-buying has caused some service stations to run dry, mostly in regional areas. Supply remains solid yet there is rising anxiety that a prolonged Middle East conflict and <\/a>shutdown of the strait of Hormuz, through which 20 per cent of global fuel passed, might force Asian refineries to cut supply to Australia.<\/p>\n

After meeting with truckers, farmers and petrol bosses, Bowen said oil companies had told him they \u201cfully expect all deliveries all through March and well into April\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we are in an internationally uncertain time and that\u2019s why we\u2019re doing such planning at the moment,\u201d he said. \u201cEvery ship that we have expected to arrive has arrived, whether it\u2019s diesel, petrol or jet fuel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related Article\"President<\/a><\/p>\n

Three Australian industry sources, not willing to speak publicly about commercial decisions, said contracts for the first weeks of April were locked in before the US-Israel strikes on Iran and the theocracy\u2019s missile barrage.<\/p>\n

Since then, China, which supplies a third of Australia\u2019s jet fuel imports, has clamped down on exports, while refineries in Singapore, another big supplier to Australia, have scaled back supply.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo when minister Bowen says we are OK until some time in April, that masks the fact that things might get quite hairy from that time onwards,\u201d one source said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople across the industry are looking at contingencies from places like West Africa and the Gulf Coast in the US.\u201d<\/p>\n

\" Photo: Matt Golding<\/p>\n

Wary of the consumer pain sparked by oil remaining<\/a> above $100 a barrel, US President Donald Trump continued to put pressure on NATO allies to send forces to the Middle East to protect the Strait of Hormuz, adding that nations such as Japan, South Korea, and China \u201cshould be thanking me\u201d for trying to reopen the waterway.<\/p>\n

Trump said he would \u201csoon\u201d announce countries that have agreed to help the US reopen the strait. Nations including the UK and Germany have declined his request; Australia has said it would not send a ship to the region, although it has not received a formal request to do so.<\/p>\n

Trump was vague when asked if the war could end this week: \u201cI don\u2019t think so. But it\u2019ll be soon. Won\u2019t be long. We\u2019re gonna have a much safer world when it\u2019s wrapped up. It\u2019ll be wrapped up soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

The global energy watchdog is considering releasing more emergency oil stocks into the global market, warning on Tuesday that it would take time for markets to readjust once the conflict ended.<\/p>\n

Defence Minister Richard Marles said on Tuesday morning that rationing fuel could not be ruled out.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, this is a function of how long this conflict continues, and that\u2019s not something that I can answer in terms of what\u2019s going to happen,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we are taking the measures that we\u2019re taking right now, and it is a matter of people just going about their business normally and calmly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"OppositionOpposition energy spokesman Dan Tehan and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.Alex Ellinghausen<\/p>\n

Coalition energy spokesman Dan Tehan said Australia was facing a supply crunch and argued Labor needed to enunciate its solutions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest risk would seem to be what will happen to our fuel supply in April, beginning around Easter,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Investors<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe government has not ruled out rationing. The government needs to come clean as to whether future contracts are being cancelled and what they\u2019re doing to help industry source fuels.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Reserve Bank raised the cash rate on Tuesday<\/a> due to inflation that was already too high before the oil crisis, which has heightened inflation expectations.<\/p>\n

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said suppliers and retailers were \u201chauled in\u201d to a roundtable with regulators on Tuesday. He sent them a clear message that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, which the opposition has described as toothless, would punish brazen profiteering.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur message, once again, is very simple: suppliers and retailers must not treat motorists as mugs. They are on notice if they do the wrong thing, the ACCC will throw the book at them,\u201d Chalmers said.<\/p>\n

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"PaulPaul Sakkal<\/a> is chief political correspondent. He previously covered Victorian politics and has won Walkley and Quill awards. Reach him securely on Signal @paulsakkal.14Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"March 17, 2026 \u2014 7:30pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":546068,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-546067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=546067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/546068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=546067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=546067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=546067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}