Major sources of Australian oil including Malaysia and South Korea could cut their exports to prioritise local fuel needs, energy experts have warned, as the energy minister, Chris Bowen, concedes some service stations are running out of stock and governments have \u201cpowers\u201d to ration petrol if supplies are more severely disrupted.<\/p>\n
Bowen shrugged off reports in the Australian Financial Review on Thursday that the Malaysian embassy said the country\u2019s government would \u201cprioritise our own needs, and only then we can look at whatever demand that we receive from overseas\u201d. Malaysia is Australia\u2019s top source of crude oil.<\/p>\n
The minister said he wasn\u2019t aware of any cuts to Australian imports from Malaysia.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t a particular announcement that they were taking any particular action. Malaysia produces and refines a lot more fuel than Malaysia or Malaysians would need at any given time,\u201d he told Radio National.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the moment, as I said, the Malaysian government has taken no action to threaten the supply of fuel to Australia and all the ships that we\u2019ve expected to arrive have arrived.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Kevin Morrison, an energy finance analyst at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, said the Malaysian official\u2019s warnings were \u201creally significant\u201d, considering Australia\u2019s heavy dependence on the country for petroleum products and especially crude oil to feed two domestic refineries.<\/p>\n
Morrison said there was an obvious risk that major suppliers in the region, including Australia\u2019s biggest supplier South Korea, will also prioritise domestic use over selling to Australia.<\/p>\n
\u201cSouth Korea, Japan and India are all very vulnerable. They hardly produce any oil so they are all very dependent on oil imports,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they are facing the situation where crude oil supplies are declining and there\u2019s no sign of the conflict ending, obviously they would prioritise their domestic markets over exports.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vinh Thai, a professor of logistics and supply chain management at RMIT University, raised similar concerns, noting reports that India and Vietnam were worried about keeping their citizens and industry supplied with enough fuel.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course a government of a country has to first of all act in the interests of their own citizens; that Malaysian official is saying that for a reason,\u201d he said of the AFR report.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf India needs to reserve energy for their own manufacturing, then they may impose some export bans or restrictions, and those would have an immediate, direct impact on imports into Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chris Bowen says \u2018what we\u2019re dealing with is a very big increase in demand\u2019. Photograph: Jesse Thompson\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
The federal government has repeatedly ruled out any immediate prospect of fuel rationing, and Bowen on Friday again said \u201cwe\u2019re not close to there\u201d.<\/p>\n
But he did flag that the prospect wasn\u2019t entirely impossible.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not been contemplated as something that we need to do in the immediate future. Of course, again, governments have powers should supply be very severely disrupted, but the important message for Australians is that supply is not being disrupted at this point,\u201d Bowen told a press conference.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019re dealing with is a very big increase in demand, which is understandable with what people are watching on television, but our message to Australians remains buy as much fuel as you need \u2013 not more, not less.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Preparing for every eventuality\u2019<\/p>\n
The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, said on Friday that at least 107 petrol stations in his state did not have any diesel, while 42 have no fuel at all, out of approximately 3,000 stations statewide. The Daily Telegraph reported the NSW government was \u201cwar gaming\u201d a fuel rationing system, but Minns has been reluctant to discuss contingency plans publicly.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re preparing for every eventuality, but I don\u2019t want to jump the gun,\u201d he said on Friday.<\/p>\n