Global energy crisis: Australia PM brings Singapore trip forward amid urgency to secure fuel supply

Anthony Albanese has brought forward his visit to Singapore amid the urgency to secure Australia’s fuel supply in the wake of an Iran war-induced global energy crisis.

The Prime Minister will travel to the Asian nation on Thursday to hold bilateral talks with counterpart Lawrence Wong in a meeting which had been slated for later in the year.

Mr Albanese described the trip as an “important progression” after the regional leaders recently penned a joint commitment to keep fuel flowing between both countries.

Australia is a major supplier of LNG to Singaporeans but relies on the small Asian nation for refined fuels.

“This will be important, and we’ll continue discussions on securing our trade in petrol, diesel and LNG,” he said.

“This is an important progression. I was due to go to Singapore this year. The truth is that it’s happening earlier than was intended.

“There are further discussions that we’re having on a regular basis while I’m in Canberra on the phone. But nothing beats a face-to-face engagement.”

While Australia has reserve stocks of 39 days for petrol, 30 days of jet fuel, and 29 days worth of diesel — it’s heavily reliant on Asian markets for refined fuels as only two domestic refineries remain operational.

The trip comes amid fears key Asian trading partners — such as Singapore, Japan, South Korea and China — might pivot toward prioritising internal demand over exports.

The PM credited his government for their focus on strengthening international relationships over the last four years, insisting the foundational connection was important amid the global crisis.

“Australia is facing a more uncertain world, and therefore the certainty of those clear, close relationships are more important than ever,” Mr Albanese said.

“We are currently in a secure position. However, engaging with our international partners is an important part of keeping our fuel supply flowing.”

Australia is also particularly reliant on Asian trading partners for jet fuel, which has become more expensive and harder to acquire since the start of the conflict on February 28 — prompting airlines globally to scale back services.

National carrier Air New Zealand on Tuesday reduced its services four per cent between May and June after it had already scrapped five per cent of flights to May.

The Trans-Tasman route between Sydney and New Zealand has now lost at least 55 regular flights as Jetstar also reduced services.

It comes amid questions over whether Australia will adopt fuel rationing among other demand-side measures if the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz continues.

The war is in its sixth week and could intensify amid threats from US President Donald Trump if Tehran doesn’t agree to a ceasefire.

Speaking in Canberra on Tuesday, Mr Albanese also thanked Australians for their efforts “to conserve fuel and to get on with life” over the Easter long weekend.

While the PM boasted about “very few cancellations” over Easter and that prices had “reduced across most capital cities” following the halving of the fuel excise — regional communities have continued to report shortages.

Energy Minister Chris Bowen said three per cent of Australia’s about 8000 service stations were reporting shortages of one or more fuel. The issue has been more acute in NSW, where 125 stations lacking diesel and 34 completely out of fuel.

Mr Bowen said Australian companies had now locked in fuel contracts to arrive in the country “well into May” after previously only guaranteeing supply in April.

“Lots of people across the industry were working very hard. They now have locked in confidence well into May,” he told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday.

Several states which continued to face supply gaps included Victoria, Queensland, and Western Australia where dozens of sites without diesel or unleaded petrol.

In Victoria, 40 stations are without diesel and 29 lack unleaded, while Queensland reports 34 diesel and 30 unleaded outages, followed by Western Australia with 20 and 32 respectively.

Mr Bowen said that now there are 241 stations around Australia with no diesel.

Shadow energy minister Dan Tehan said he still held concerns over diesel availability and prices as the relief flowing through to bowsers from halving the fuel excise was having a greater impact on petrol.

“It’s welcome but there are still bowsers without diesel. And if you have a look at the futures price for diesel, it sees it continuing to rise over the next couple of months,” he told Sky.

“I would say to Chris Bowen very clearly, it’s time he focused on diesel and made sure that we’re going to have the supplies into May and June.”

Opposition leader Angus Taylor echoed the concerns on Tuesday, insisting that Australia’s key industries “ran on diesel” and urged the government to prioritise getting fuel to farmers ahead of their cropping season.

Speaking at the Royal Easter Show in Sydney, Mr Taylor said the fuel crisis was an “absolute disaster for the ag sector.

“What we’ve seen in recent weeks is an absolute disaster unfolding because this government can’t work out whether there is a crisis or whether it’s all okay,” he said.

“We need a strong farming and agriculture sector in this country. But they of course need affordable and reliable supplies of fuel and particularly diesel.

“This country runs on diesel. The government hasn’t got control of the situation. They need to be transparent and they need to tell us where the gaps are and what they’re doing about it.”

It came as agricultural advocacy group Keep the Sheep — which gained prominence ahead of the last federal election for its pro-live-export stance — resurfaced on Monday to campaign against the current national fuel shortages.

In a new campaign called “Fuel the Bush” the group have called for “bureaucrats in Canberra” to prioritise fuel supply for agriculture “as a critical industry”.

Campaign head Ben Sutherland said the group wanted a guarantee on fuel deliveries to rural communities, fast-track Australian refining, and assurances fertiliser was sourced from additional avenues.

Agriculture Minister Julie Collins said she was acutely aware of the issues facing farmers across Australia who wanted assurance to put in their winter crops as they faced the double whammy of fertiliser, urea and fuel uncertainty.

Industry experts have warned that uncertainty in the $35 billion sector could have flow-on impacts to food and beer prices if farmers can’t sow their full programs in the coming months.

Ms Collins said Australia was working to find alternative markets for urea as about 60 per cent of the common nitrogen fertiliser came from the Middle East.

“We’ve obviously been having discussions globally about shoring up Australia’s fertiliser supply,” she told Sky on Tuesday.

“We’re working through Finance Export Australia… with a lot of the importers and a lot of the fertiliser companies to do what we can do to secure as much supply as we can for Australian farmers.

“We do get a lot of our urea from the Middle East. We are also getting it from around Asia and from other parts, but we’re looking right across the globe to try and secure as much fertiliser as we can.”

The Government has stood up a fertiliser working group to try to accelerate efforts to acquire more for the Australian market, which first met last Thursday and will reconvene later this week.

“There’s enough fertiliser in the country now, or on water heading towards the country for the initial sowing season, but this is about ensuring supplies going forward,” Ms Collins said.

Both Ms Collins and the PM said that the ripple effect on local industries from the war in the Middle East had highlighted the need for sovereign capability.

Mr Albanese said it had reminded Australia of the “need to make more things here”.

“We want to set Australia up to be more resilient. The Middle East conflict has reminded us of that,” he said.

“Of the need to not be at the end of supply chains and to be less vulnerable to global events.”

Mr Taylor also called for increased drilling in Australia in a longer-term plan to increase domestic supply.

“We’ve got to drill. We’ve got to drill, we’ve got to drill, we’ve got to drill,” the Liberal leader said on Tuesday.

“We’ve got to get oil out, our natural resources out from under the ground. We’ve got to get rid of this net zero nonsense that is holding us back and we’ve got to be self-sufficient.”

“The third thing is we need a budget that’s actually going to give people confidence that Australia is back on track to get our standard of living back to where it should be and to protect our way of life.”

Pressed on the upcoming Budget in May, Mr Albanese said it would of course be influenced by the war and its implications but stressed “our ambition isn’t diminished”.

“Also because of the impact of the Middle East conflict, it is likely that the Budget will be settled later than it normally would,” he said.

“We’re living in a very turbulent time and we want to make sure that the Budget handed down on the second Tuesday in May is fit for purpose.”

Each State and Territory is also ramping up their efforts to manage supply and prevent price gouging.

NSW this week activated a dedicated incident room for an “energy and utilities crisis team” to ensure essential services remained operational.

It comes after Premier Chris Minns announced a compliance blitz of fuel suppliers and retailers which fined more than 90 stations for failing to match their prices to the FuelCheck website.

In the Northern Territory, the government has invoked a rare 1949 law to force fuel retailers to reveal their entire cost structure.