{"id":591315,"date":"2026-04-07T13:37:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T13:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/591315\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T13:37:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T13:37:09","slug":"albanese-brings-forward-singapore-trip-and-speaks-with-china-in-bid-to-shore-up-petrol-shipments-to-australia-petrol-prices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/591315\/","title":{"rendered":"Albanese brings forward Singapore trip and speaks with China in bid to shore up petrol shipments to Australia | Petrol prices"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anthony Albanese will fly to Singapore this week \u2013 Australia\u2019s biggest source of petrol \u2013 as the government mounts an international bid to keep fuel prices from rising.<\/a><\/p>\n

Diesel is getting more expensive again and petrol prices have stopped falling, despite the federal government\u2019s cut to fuel excise last week.<\/p>\n

Albanese spoke to China\u2019s premier, Li Qiang, on Tuesday night, part of a growing diplomatic effort to shore up supply. A readout of the call from the Australian side said the two leaders agreed to increase government-to-government communication to support regional energy security.<\/p>\n

It hasn\u2019t been confirmed whether Albanese\u2019s Singapore<\/a> visit will directly secure any additional supply for Australia, but the PM said fuel would be on the agenda as the government scours the world for extra shipments of diesel and petrol.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will be important, and we\u2019ll continue discussions on securing our trade in petrol, diesel and LNG,\u201d Albanese said on Tuesday, adding that he had already planned to visit Singapore for later in the year but it had now been brought forward.<\/p>\n

Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n

Referring to last month\u2019s joint statement with Wong, he said Singapore and Australia had committed to \u201ckeep fuel flowing between both countries and to work together to strengthen energy supply chain resilience\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cTogether, we share concern over the situation in the Middle East, including the consequences for both of our nations. We share a deep strategic trust,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t need to wait for this global crisis to be over. We have to build resilience into the system. We are currently in a secure position. However, engaging with our international partners is an important part of keeping our fuel supply flowing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fuel shipment prices have held at historic highs in Australia\u2019s five biggest cities. Wholesale unleaded prices stopped falling on Tuesday after coming down by about 40 cents a litre since 26 March, including from the government\u2019s 32-cent fuel excise cuts, Australian Institute of Petroleum data showed.<\/p>\n

Wholesale petrol prices stop falling<\/a><\/p>\n

Falling wholesale prices had seen retailers cut their prices by about 33 cents a litre since late March in the capital cities. Prices continued to fall on Tuesday but flat wholesale prices would make further falls impossible unless retailers sacrificed profit margins.<\/p>\n

Diesel prices rose for fuel companies and motorists, with terminal prices 10c a litre higher after a brief reprieve after fuel excise cuts.<\/p>\n

The US president, Donald Trump, on Tuesday reiterated threats to target Iranian civilian infrastructure<\/a> such as bridges and power stations, if negotiations for a ceasefire and to reopen the strait of Hormuz \u2013 a key global oil shipping route \u2013 are unsuccessful.<\/p>\n

Trump also repeated criticisms of Nato, and singled out Australia, among others.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey haven\u2019t helped at all,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not just Nato. You know who else didn\u2019t help us? South Korea didn\u2019t help us. You know who else didn\u2019t help us? Australia didn\u2019t help us. You know who else didn\u2019t help us? Japan.\u201d<\/p>\n

The federal energy minister, Chris Bowen, said only 3% of petrol stations around Australia, or 241 outlets, had run out of diesel as of Tuesday. That included 125 in New South Wales, 40 in Victoria, 34 in Queensland and 20 in Western Australia.<\/p>\n

There had been fears inside the government that the busy Easter holiday period could lead to a spike in fuel demand and potential supply outages. But after his televised address on Wednesday night asking Australians to consider their fuel usage and take public transport where possible, Albanese expressed gratitude.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to recognise the efforts of Australians over the Easter long weekend to conserve fuel and to get on with life. We saw very few cancellations. That was a good thing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

While Bowen announced over the weekend that Australia\u2019s fuel stock levels remained \u201cpretty static\u201d \u2013 with 39 days of petrol, 30 days of jet fuel and 29 days of diesel in stockpiles \u2013 the government is looking to secure further supplies as the Middle East conflict continues.<\/p>\n

The opposition leader, Angus Taylor, demanded again that the government provide more fuel supply chain data, including information on ships arriving in Australia and the amount of fuel being produced onshore. He also again called for Australia to commit to drilling for more oil.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to have those details and we need to have them on a daily basis \u2026 We also need a longer-term plan to ensure this never happens again. That we have the fuel security we need as a country and that means drilling, making the absolute most of our natural resources in this country and that means drilling for more oil and gas in this country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Albanese last month released a joint statement<\/a> with Singaporean prime minister, Lawrence Wong, reaffirming the two nations would continue trading in energy. Singapore is one of the major sources of Australia\u2019s oil, accounting for 26% of refined fuel imports, 55% of petrol imports, 22% of jet fuel and 15% of diesel.<\/p>\n

There has been growing concern from energy experts that nations will start keeping oil for their own domestic consumption<\/a> instead of exporting their usual amounts, after a statement from Malaysia that the country\u2019s government would \u201cprioritise our own needs\u201d.<\/p>\n

Bowen said fuel companies had supply contracts \u201cwell into May\u201d, and that \u201cdeals are being done\u201d using the government\u2019s new powers to underwrite fuel shipments, foreshadowing more announcements in coming days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Anthony Albanese will fly to Singapore this week \u2013 Australia\u2019s biggest source of petrol \u2013 as the government…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":591316,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-591315","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\/591315","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=591315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/591316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=591315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=591315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=591315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}