Australia to release nearly 20% of fuel stockpile as Bowen insists country ‘nowhere near’ running out
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/mar/13/australia-to-release-nearly-20-of-fuel-stockpile-as-bowen-insists-country-nowhere-near-running-out
28 Comments
This really feels like in Feb 2020 before covid when they were trying to tell us it will be fine
Why is this government never considering demand whether houses or fuel
I hope behind the scenes the government is sorting out petrol rationing infastruture. This is going to go on for at least 6 months and we are going to need it.
The feds should also encourage state governments to reduce Public Transport Prices.
Does 30 days worth qualify as a ‘stockpile’?
I genuinely think the plan from ghouls like Marco Rubio is to allow Iran to wreck the world oil economy until the only way that we can alleviate it is to join the US on a stupid war into Iran
It would be wise for the government to instruct companies to encourage work from home, when possible. Till the war is sorted.
I doubt this goes on for 6 months. But, with Trump & US oil independence… it very well could.
Great. Could the Murdoch and Stokes media outlets stop trying to incite panic buying now?
They’re seriously getting close to the point of causing public endangerment.
Why not mandate work from home where possible?
Just the last 2 weeks require us to release 1/5 of our stockpile and we’re nowhere near running out? Doesn’t that math indicate we’re only 8 weeks away from running out??
Could you lend some, please, to your cuzzie bros across the ditch? We really don’t think we can trust the mob we’ve got, sadly elected so it’s an own goal, because they are a) incompetent and b) look only after their financial backers. Ta muchly!
Australia is net exporter of energy products, and it is my understanding that we produce something like twice what we need for domestic consumption.
What we can’t do is refine those products into petrol in sufficient amounts on-shore. This ultimately means we import something like 90% of the petrol that we require.
I suspect if it looks like passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be complicated for an extended period of time then we may need to negotiate with our regional partners exactly what happens with our refined products.
I.e. we make some arrangement where our fuel supplies the needs of Australia, Japan, Singapore and South Korea first before being released to the open market.
But I could be wrong.
And yet almost all servos in rural Wa are either now only serving emergency services or are limiting each customer to 50l. Ministers saying that we’re not running out of fuel doesn’t magically put more in the tank
If it’s nowhere near running out then why are the prices climbing high since day 1?
With this news surely the petrol companies drop the price as quickly as they raised it after the scare…. Right?!?
Ok, so the best initial step would be to help reduce oil consumption, etc. Now hear me out, there are many things that can be done for this. This AM I see tons of traffic jams and cars just sitting in traffic, burning fuel. So, no WFH mandates to help slow oil consumption? Or are they going to wait until we have to ration fuel before they do this? After it’s possibly too late?
“Everyone gets A Free Electric Car!”…
The same guy who has been posting on social media almost daily for the past four years telling us our electricity bills are getting cheaper when they keep going up?
Shouldn’t energy security be synonymous with national security? Decarbonising transport and the grid seem like a security issue, no?
Seems like a more productive/ efficient use of our tax payer dollars than the non-existent AUKUS pillar 1 subs we’ll never get
Friendly reminder you can pop down to your local bike store and pick up a decent electric bike for about $2,000 and recharge the battery at work. Just hope your state government doesn’t give into the media whinging!
All the government talk of “everything is fine, don’t panic” is making me think everything is absolutely fucked.
Mfw motorbike that gets 4L/100km
As a teacher I’d like to know what leave I need to apply for if I can’t afford to go to work because public transport would take about 3 hours
The Liberal/Labor decision to resist renewable energy for the past couple decades while shutting down/selling off local oil production was a dumb idea.
Stop voting for failures.
Looks like Iran is winning.
Maybe our politicians can limit their fuel use, ditch the private tax payer funded chauffeured cars and catch a bus or train, lead by example!
20% huh? That’ll cover us for two days. What do we do for the rest of the month?
If things get worse I hope there is some extreme introspection in this country on many fronts.
Here are some ideas I have pulled out of my arse, so don’t expect them to be really that factual.
– Vehicle sizes, why the fuck we should even allow those big chungus yank tank things to run here?
– Better urban planning so we don’t need cars as much or at all in some cases
– Bring back more Work from Home days.
– Figure out more domestic energy supply production, this is both fuel and power generation.
– Bring back rail usage for many large haul things like grain or bulk interstate freight so overall less fuel is used in a single train vs hundreds of trucks
– Suss out our logistics networks better, sort of going to my point above.
Apparently we’ve got access to a stockpile in the US…. Ha like they’re gonna honor that right now.
Hmm, sorta seems like we’re 20% closer to running out of fuel though yeah?