Australia’s Fuel Security on a Knife’s Edge   


MARITIME UNION OF AUSTRALIA

MEDIA RELEASE

16 October 2025

Australia’s Fuel Security on a Knife’s Edge

The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) today warns that Australia is perilously exposed to external supply shocks, after media reporting that the nation holds only 28 days’ worth of petrol reserves. The Union's position is that the nation’s fuel security must be treated as a strategic national priority. The Union is calling for urgent government action and full implementation of the proposed Australian Strategic Fleet. Without sovereign control over shipping capacity as well as fuel reserves, Australia remains exposed to supply chain shocks, global crises, and natural disasters.

“We have barely a month’s buffer before our transport networks grind to a halt. In any serious geopolitical disruption, Australia would be knocked flat,” said Paddy Crumlin, National Secretary of the MUA and a member of the Australian Government’s Strategic Fleet Taskforce which made recommendations to Government in 2023 toward implementation of the Government's promised Strategic Fleet of Australian flagged and crewed ships.

Also on the Taskforce was Dr Sarah Ryan, who serves as a Non-Executive Director of Viva Energy. Viva Energy operates a refinery in Geelong and a national network of fuel import terminals across Australia.

“The Strategic Fleet isn’t a luxury, it’s a lifeline. Without it, our fuel, food, medicine, and all essentials travel on foreign ships we can’t reliably call on in a crisis,” Crumlin said.

A systemic vulnerability
Recent reporting echoes long-standing warnings: Australia is heavily dependent on foreign sources for refined fuels, with approximately 80 per cent of its liquid fuel imported. Domestic refining capacity has been decimated; from a dozen refineries a decade ago to just two remaining.

Even more worryingly, stockholding figures are being pushed to the brink: quarterly data suggests only 23 days of diesel, 25 days of petrol, and 21 days of jet fuel are genuinely in hand. While government calculations include fuel enroute or held in coastal waters (which artificially inflates estimated reserves), that fails to reflect real, immediately available reserves in the face of a sudden shock.

Australia currently falls well short of the International Energy Agency (IEA) benchmark of 90 days’ net import coverage.

“Our fuel reserve calculations should not be gamed with accounting tricks about fuel still at sea, especially when those fuels in transit are aboard Flag of Convenience vessels under the control of foreign multinationals or foreign governments,” said Crumlin. “We need real, tangible reserves on land which are wholly under our control and oversight.”

The stakes: national security, jobs, services
Loss of fuel supply would not merely starve petrol stations. It would cripple food transport, emergency services, supply chains, medical logistics and infrastructure maintenance. Australia’s reliance on imported fuel places the entire economy at risk during major disruptions.

“Fuel is the bloodstream of modern society,” said MUA Assistant National Secretary, Jamie Newlyn. “Without it, ports slow, ships idle, trucks stop. Our industries, our hospitals, our farming sectors collapse.”

The MUA notes that military and strategic operations, which rely critically on secure fuel supply chains, are also put in jeopardy by Australia’s imported fuel and transport dependencies.

Why the Strategic Fleet matters now
Recent investigations reveal that Australia imports the vast majority of its refined fuels, with domestic refining capacity sharply reduced. Risk factors include global disruptions, refinery outages, shipping delays, and geopolitical instability. In this context, even small shocks to the supply chain could quickly cascade into severe shortages.

The Strategic Fleet proposal, as endorsed by government, unions, and industry, would create up to a dozen Australian-flagged and crewed commercial vessels, managed privately but able to be requisitioned by government at times of national emergencies or crisis.


What must be done: a roadmap from the MUA
To address the crisis, the MUA calls on federal and state governments to implement the Strategic Fleet without delay in order to:

1.      Ensure sovereignty over the logistics of fuel imports and domestic distribution with the Strategic Fleet. If foreign-flagged vessels are unavailable, delayed, or unwilling, Australia would have its own ships to transport essential fuel supplies.
2.      Create redundancy in crisis. Nationally flagged and crewed vessels under government requisition can be mobilised even when commercial market forces fail.
3.      Support workforce and capacity building. Training Australian seafarers, re-establishing commercial shipping skills, and expanding sovereign maritime infrastructure not only bolsters fuel security but also jobs and national industrial capability.
4.      Improve transparency & planning. Implementation of the Strategic Fleet will deliver planning and analysis of ship types, fuel flows, routes, storage and redundancies. That dovetails with demand forecasting, reserve stock levels, and resilience policies.

“These are not optional extras,” Crumlin said. “They are essential infrastructure for national resilience.”

And in other news the International Maritime Organisation, a Sub-div of the UN, wants to  go Net Zero via its  Net Zero Framework.

A new global tax regime.

Forget about the toilet paper.

Buy an electric car!

Could be a reason why our petroleum reserves are falling?

greggerypeccary wrote Yesterday at 12:55pm:


It’s a shame Australia chose to put a big portion of our fuel reserves in the USA - I doubt if we will ever see those again

And Biden sold 40% of their reserves and left with it still in deficit.

This is the exact reason why we need to start renewable swap.