{"id":604411,"date":"2026-04-13T16:13:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T16:13:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/604411\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T16:13:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T16:13:15","slug":"labor-war-games-budget-plan-to-boost-fuel-supply","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/604411\/","title":{"rendered":"Labor war-games budget plan to boost fuel supply"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated April 13, 2026 \u2014 6:01pm,first published 5:58pm<\/p>\n

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The federal government is war-gaming a series of budget initiatives to boost the amount of petrol and diesel in the country to protect the nation\u2019s long-term fuel security as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese heads to two more key Asian suppliers of oil.<\/p>\n

As Albanese flies out to Brunei and then Malaysia on Tuesday to shore up supplies of diesel and fertiliser, senior ministers have revealed \u201cnothing is off the table\u201d within the government as they discuss ways to protect the Australian economy from the fallout<\/a> of the war against Iran, which some analysts have said could drive the nation into a recession.<\/p>\n

\"AnthonyAnthony Albanese is shown an overview of Jurong Island operations by JTC Corp assistant chief Christine Wong. The prime minister continues his petrol diplomacy to Brunei on Tuesday.Dominic Lorrimer<\/p>\n

Climate and Energy Minister Chris Bowen on Monday said the government would consider \u201ceverything\u201d to beef up Australia\u2019s fuel supplies, including speeding up the electrification of Australia\u2019s light vehicle fleet, extracting more natural resources and increasing Australia\u2019s fuel storage capacity.<\/p>\n

Australia can hold about 30 days worth of diesel and about 40 days worth of petrol, but it is a signatory to the International Energy Agency\u2019s \u201cagreement on an international energy program\u201d treaty, which requires countries to store 90 days of oil onshore.<\/p>\n

Bowen said it would cost an estimated $20 billion over four years to reach that 90-day target.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThat\u2019s a medium- to longer-term priority for the government. At the moment, we\u2019re focused on ensuring we get through this uncertain international environment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not making further announcements today, but obviously \u2026 we\u2019ll always look at sensible things in due course to ensure our ongoing resilience.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the fuel crisis was spurring the uptake of electric vehicles and that the growing number of EVs on Australian roads had meant about 15 million litres of fuel had not had to be used. EVs made up a record 15 per cent of cars sold in March<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At present, there are 205 service stations across the country, or about 2.6 per cent, without any diesel. About half of that, 106 stations, are in NSW.<\/p>\n

Three government sources played down the prospect of Labor announcing an increase in fuel storage in the May 12 budget but they confirmed there were discussions under way about increasing storage in the medium term, in response to the fuel crisis.<\/p>\n

One senior source, speaking on condition of confidentiality, said no matter what the government did, the key issue would remain the supply of crude oil.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom a refinery to new tanks, you still need supply and that\u2019s the problem for everyone,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

Rehabilitating previously closed refineries is considered extremely difficult, if not impossible. But there is scope for the federal government to financially support the expansion of the two existing refineries at Brisbane and Geelong.<\/p>\n

The government has a number of existing programs including its National Reconstruction Fund that could be tapped to provide support.<\/p>\n

Another senior source said the government was examining all options to boost supply.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Ampol refinery in Brisbane.Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing is off the table,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

On the day the government announced it would halve excise on petrol and diesel, it also revealed that Finance Minister Katy Gallagher would have up to $2 billion through Export Finance Australia to finance the purchase of tankers of fuel on the global spot market.<\/p>\n

This type of unusual action has been highlighted as an example of the government\u2019s resolve to look at all alternatives to protect the fuel supply.<\/p>\n

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

The cost of building a new refinery is seen as prohibitive. <\/p>\n

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has cited support for biofuels, such as those made from agricultural oils such as canola, as another way to provide long-term fuel security.<\/p>\n

Last week, HAMR Energy, a company that aims to turn biomass into liquid fuels, was one of just four companies to get support under the government\u2019s Investor Front Door program, which streamlines government approval processes.<\/p>\n

Albanese\u2019s trip to Malaysia and Brunei continues his \u201ccrude oil diplomacy\u201d after last week\u2019s visit to Singapore, which promised to do everything it could to keep supplying Australia with petrol. Brunei supplies about 9 per cent of Australia\u2019s diesel, plus much of the nation\u2019s fertiliser. Malaysia provides more than 10 per cent of the nation\u2019s diesel and petrol.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe trip this week will be very significant, and the impacts that are happening on a day-to-day basis, with announcements, just reinforce the fact that we are living in very uncertain times,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd when you have that, what you have to do is to act with certainty. We are acting with certainty … to maximise Australia\u2019s opportunities to secure supply.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cost of oil on Monday climbed back over the $US100 a barrel mark after US President Donald Trump said he would blockade the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

Both West Texas and Brent crude jumped by more than 7 per cent, erasing the drop that occurred last week when Trump revealed a two-week ceasefire with Iran.<\/p>\n

Anxiety among investors spread to currency markets. The Australian dollar, which approached US71\u00a2 last week, dipped below US70\u00a2 on Monday morning.<\/p>\n

The ASX200 continued its rollercoaster ride, losing 0.4 per cent in value despite a lift in the price of shares in a string of energy companies including Woodside, Beach and Santos.<\/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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\"ShaneShane Wright<\/a> is a senior economics correspondent for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.\"JamesJames Massola<\/a> is chief political commentator. He was previously national affairs editor and South-East Asia correspondent. He has won Quill and Kennedy awards and been a Walkley finalist. Connect securely on Signal @jamesmassola.01Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.\"BrittanyBrittany Busch<\/a> is a federal politics reporter for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated April 13, 2026 \u2014 6:01pm,first published 5:58pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":604412,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":{"0":"post-604411","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604411","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=604411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/604412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=604411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=604411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=604411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}