{"id":558887,"date":"2026-03-23T10:56:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T10:56:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/558887\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T10:56:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T10:56:15","slug":"singapore-offers-australia-lifeline-amid-fuel-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/558887\/","title":{"rendered":"Singapore offers Australia lifeline amid fuel crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australia and Singapore have agreed to ensure petrol, diesel and gas continue to flow between the two after several fuel shipments bound for Australian ports next month were cancelled.<\/p>\n

Anthony Albanese has been fiercely negotiating with Asian counterparts amid revelations six fuel tankers from Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea \u2013 Australia\u2019s biggest suppliers \u2013 had been cancelled or deferred as their refineries grapple with no oil flowing out of the Middle East.<\/p>\n

Following a call on Monday, the Prime Minister and his Singaporean counterpart Lawrence Wong said their countries \u201cshare deep concern over the situation in the Middle East and its consequences for our region, such as the impact on energy supply chains and prices\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are committed to working together to strengthen energy supply chain resilience, including by deepening regional co-operation, accelerating renewable energy transition, addressing unjustified import and export restrictions, and maintaining open trade flows,\u201d they said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this context, we reaffirm our commitment to strengthen energy security, to support the flow of essential goods including petroleum oils, such as diesel, and liquefied natural gas between our two countries, and to notify and consult each other on any disruptions with ramifications on the trade of energy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier, cabinet minister Mark Butler suggested Australia could leverage its status as a gas exporting giant to ensure fuel flows from Asia.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis conflict does look like it\u2019s going to go on for a little longer, and it\u2019s reverberating right through the global economy,\u201d Mr Butler told Nine\u2019s Today show.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we are working very hard with our regional partners. They receive energy from us, we receive liquid fuels from them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re doing everything we can to get supply back into Australia and at the moment those supplies are holding up pretty well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PRIME<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is negotiating with Australia\u2019s biggest fuel suppliers in Asia. Picture: NewsWire \/ Martin Ollman<\/p>\n

Appearing on Sky News later, Assistant Foreign Affairs Minister Matt Thistlethwaite also noted that Mr Albanese was \u201cnegotiating with our Asian neighbours\u201d and that the government was \u201cdoing everything we possibly can to ensure that we can maintain fuel security for Australia\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe beauty of Australia is that we are one of the largest distributors of (liquefied natural gas) anywhere in the world,\u201d Mr Thistlethwaite said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd South Korea gets almost all of its LNG, it\u2019s liquefied natural gas, through Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, they\u2019ve got a vested interest in ensuring that. It\u2019s a two-way street.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that he did not think it would come to Australia withholding gas, and the country \u201cis a very reliable distributor of LNG\u201d, but stressed \u201cwe\u2019ve got that advantage in that we can work with our neighbours in Asia Pacific to ensure that they have access to their energy needs and we get access to ours\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"FUEL<\/p>\n

Fuel prices have soared across Australia due to the war with Iran. Picture: NewsWire \/ Andrew Henshaw<\/p>\n

Fuel prices have soared across Australia since the US and Israeli launched strikes on Iran.<\/p>\n

The Islamist regime\u2019s retaliatory strikes have targeted oil tankers transiting the Strait of Hormuz, effectively shutting the marine passage and cutting off a fifth of the world\u2019s oil supply.<\/p>\n

Energy Minister Chris Bowen on Sunday revealed the six fuel tankers were cancelled after dismissing a warning from Malaysia days earlier that it would need to prioritise its own supply if the war against Iran dragged on.<\/p>\n

In his comments on Sunday, Mr Bowen said some of the ships cancelled \u201chave already been replaced by the importers and refiners with other sources\u201d.<\/p>\n

Reuters reported at the weekend that major fuel companies, including ExxonMobil, BP and Vitol, were shipping record volumes from the Gulf of Mexico.<\/p>\n

But the route is significantly more costly, raising questions about its long-term viability.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia and Singapore have agreed to ensure petrol, diesel and gas continue to flow between the two after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":558888,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[2324,275853,64,63,99,164,271519,275854,264217,275851,31994,6895,275852,942],"class_list":["post-558887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-anthony-albanese","tag-asian-counterparts","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-energy-supply","tag-fuel-suppliers","tag-fuel-supplies","tag-fuel-tankers","tag-lawrence-wong","tag-prime-minister","tag-prime-ministers-office","tag-singapore"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558887","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=558887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558887\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/558888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=558887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=558887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=558887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}