AARON PATRICK: Is it a fuel crisis or not? Chris Bowen should make up his mind on petrol ‘shortage’

If Australia doesn’t have a fuel crisis, why has Energy Minister Chris Bowen pulled the emergency lever?

On Thursday Mr Bowen said petrol standards would be lowered for 60 days to permit higher levels of sulphur, a chemical linked to respiratory illnesses, heart disease, stroke and lung cancer.

Mr Bowen knows very well the health risks of sulphur when burned in engines. He has been working for years to almost eradicate it from the fuel supply.

It was only on December 15 that rules came into effect limiting sulphur to 10 parts per million, a step that Mr Bowen and Transport Minister Catherine King earlier said would “help protect Australians from harmful exhaust pollutants that cause respiratory illness and cancer”.

They even cited a Melbourne University study that estimated more than 11,000 Australians die prematurely every year from transport pollution.

Policy U-turn

On Thursday, Mr Bowen was more interested in pacifying Australians who have to pay more than $2 a litre for petrol or can’t buy diesel at all.

The policy U-turn will make an extra 100 million litres of petrol available each month, he said, while denying there is any shortage of fuel.

“Demand has doubled,” he told Parliament. “Use has not.”

Ampol, which refines the fuel, has promised the government that country areas will be prioritised, especially Queensland, where farmers are worried about getting feed for their animals.

Australia has 36 days of petrol available, 29 of jet fuel, and 32 days of diesel, Mr Bowen said, and the opposition should stop fanning fears that could trigger panic buying.

Stockpiles

But Australians may now be realising that a vast continent with only two oil refineries has been engaged in risky business when it comes to fuel supplies.

In November, Australia had 47 days worth of oil stockpiled. Under an agreement with the International Energy Agency, Australia is required to hold at least 90 days’ worth.

None other of the agency’s 32 members were in breach the agreement. Europe had 129 days of oil available. Australia’s stocks were low throughout the year.

Up-to-date figures are not available but are unlikely to show any significant stockpiling ahead of a war that, while shocking, wasn’t surprising. All you needed was access to Donald Trump’s social media feed to see bombs might be about to drop.

Now that one fifth of the world’s oil seaborne supplies have ceased, tankers are burning in the Persian Gulf, and countries around the world are rationing energy or trying to reduce consumption, Mr Bowen’s earlier assurances feel not so reassuring.

A crisis

As for the minister, he seems to have understood the messages weren’t working judging by his rhetorical pivot in Parliament Thursday.

“Do I regard a war as a crisis?” he said. “Yes I do, Mr Speaker. Do I regard the implications of that war when it comes to fuel as a crisis? I do, Mr Speaker.

“And do I think if a farmer can’t get fuel, is it a crisis for that farmer? Yes, I do, Mr Speaker.”

The Liberal foreign affairs spokesman, Dan Tehan, argued it is difficult to claim everything is fine when empty petrol stations appear on the evening news and war spreads across the Middle East.

“You’ve had the minister responsible, Chris Bowen, telling the Australian people there is no problem with the supply of fuel and then he is also declaring it to be a national crisis,” he told ABC television.

Whether you believe Mr Tehan or not, if Mr Bowen’s emergency lever doesn’t fill those bowsers soon, the government will find itself in a crisis of its own.