‘Won’t happen’: Singapore shuts down Aussie fuel fears
Grace Crivellaro |
Motorists are being reassured Australia will not be cut off from its biggest fuel supplier, even if conflict in the Middle East escalates and stocks worsen.
Australia has locked in a supply deal with Singapore, one of the country’s largest providers of fuel, but the opposition has urged for the government to not be reliant on exports for petrol and diesel.
Singapore had no plans to reduce exports, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said alongside Anthony Albanese at a joint press conference on Friday.
“We didn’t have to do so even in the darkest days of COVID, and we will not do so during this energy crisis,” Mr Wong told reporters in Singapore.
More than a quarter of all fuel imported into Australia comes from Singapore and Australia provides about one-third of the city-state’s LNG supply.
Mr Albanese and Mr Wong inked an agreement to continue trading large amounts of fuel and gas between the two nations.
The deal stated the countries would “make maximum efforts to meet each other’s energy security needs” at a time when fuel prices have surged and many service stations face shortages as the Strait of Hormuz remains shut.
It did not include any specific guarantee Australia would be at the front of the queue in the event Singapore’s refineries kept reducing output.
But Mr Wong shut down a question on whether Australia would be prioritised if exports had to be reduced if the energy crisis worsened.
“It won’t happen,” he said.
The blunt response prompted Mr Albanese to quip: “The prime minister is just as confident in private as he is in public.”
Nationals leader Matt Canavan said a crisis response was needed to address the fuel crisis, adding Australia should not be reliant on other nations and instead look to domestic solutions.
“I hope the government’s successful there, but we also clearly need to do more,” he told ABC TV.
“Why do we have to go cap in hand with Singapore, when we have a whole continent available to ourselves here that’s got plenty of oil and gas available?”
Mr Albanese said the relationship between Singapore and Australia meant they could avoid the worst of the fuel crisis.
“The best way to deal with this global crisis is indeed to work together as partners and as neighbours, and I look forward to continuing to engage with the prime minister,” he said.
Earlier on Friday, Mr Albanese toured an oil refinery and a liquefied natural gas terminal on Jurong Island, off Singapore’s southwest coast.
Both leaders also called for the strait, where one-fifth of the world’s oil supply flows through, to reopen.
Mr Albanese will return to Australia on Saturday.
AAP