‘Asleep at the wheel’: Energy minister Chris Bowen blasted on fuel crisis as Australian reserves revealed

Under-fire Energy Minister Chris Bowen has been accused of being “asleep at the wheel” as regional and rural Australians face what he has labelled “unacceptable” fuel shortages.

Speaking at a press conference in Sydney, Mr Bowen said farmers had been particularly hard hit by the crisis, which has unfolded as a fallout from the Iran war, and ruled out any of the country’s oil refineries closing as a result.

Mr Bowen said on Saturday that the country had 1.6 billion litres or a 37-day supply of petrol, 2.7 billion litres or a 30-day supply of diesel, and 800 million litres or a 29-day supply of jet fuel.

“What we have seen is real and unacceptable shortages in rural and regional areas in particular, as we have been dealing with a massive explosion in demand, demand up 100 per cent at every terminal across Australia.

“Now this has seen shortages for farmers, for people in regional areas in particular, which the government has been working very hard with the industry to get addressed as quickly as possible.”

He revealed on Friday that “after very careful consideration”, the government had released some of its minimum stock obligation of diesel, which he described as “not an easy decision”.

Asked whether he could reassure Australians the country would ot run out of fuel, he said: “I can reassure Australians that we are as well-prepared as we possible could be.”

He added: “We will not see a refinery closed under the Albanese government.”

At a press conference held later on Saturday, opposition energy spokesman Dan Tehan hit out at Mr Bowen, claiming he had not acted swiftly enough to address the matter.

He said: “At the moment, the minister seems wholly reliant on the states to feed him information about where the fuel shortages are.

“Why wasn’t he doing this work two weeks ago? He’s been caught asleep at the wheel.

“Chris Bowen has one job and that is to provide fuel security across this nation. We need to hear from him - when will that fuel arrive and when will what is happening with the prices be addressed.”

He claimed Mr Bowen had been “complacent” over the matter.

Mr Tehan said: “What the minister has to do is make up for the error of his ways that we saw earlier in the week and last week, where he was complacent, sat on his hands and did nothing.

“He needs to be getting all the distributors in and he has to be asking them where are the shortages so he can provide the fuel as a priority into those shortage areas.”

It comes as war in the Middle East continues to send ripple effects across the globe, with fuel prices in particular being hit.

Aussies have been bracing themselves for prices to eclipse $3 per litre, with some servos reporting completely empty pumps.

Earlier this week, The Royal Automobile Association of South Australia reported a record high on average diesel prices - a whopping $2.46 per litre - with some sites charging as much as $2.49.

And the Albanese government has faced tough criticism and calls better contain the situation.

This week, it announced it would temporarily relax fuel standards to allow an extra 100 million litres into the country.

Meanwhile, Peter Nattrass, principal advisor for RAA, pleaded with Aussies not to panic buy.

“We still have plenty of supply in the system and only isolated cases of stations running out,” he said.