Australia's fuel supply exceeds pre-war levels, PM says
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- Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stated that the nation's supply of petrol, diesel, and jet fuel is now greater than before the Iran war began in late February.
- He also noted a drop in fuel demand and refused to commit to extending the fuel excise cut beyond July 1st.
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Australia's supply of petrol, diesel and jet fuel is now greater than it was before the Iran war broke out in late February, the prime minister says.
Anthony Albanese has also refused to indicate whether the government will extend the fuel excise cut, which has been in place since April.
"Look, we'll make an assessment in the lead-up to July 1st," he responded to a reporter's question on Saturday, before changing the topic to incoming tax cuts.
Mr Albanese said there had been a drop in demand for fuel, after a spike prior to Easter.
"What is absolutely remarkable is that today we have more diesel than we had on February 28th," he said.
"We have more petrol than we had on February 28th, and we have more jet fuel than we had on February 28th as well.
"That says something about the way that we've worked to make an enormous difference to supply here in Australia, which is the number one issue that we have concentrated on."
On Saturday, Energy Minister Chris Bowen said Australia had 44 days' worth of petrol, which he said was eight days more than the day the US and Israel started bombing Iran.
He also said the country had 36 days' worth of diesel and 35 days' worth of jet fuel.
"In fact, we have now more diesel and jet fuel than at any time since the minimum stock obligation became law in 2023," Mr Bowen said.
Mr Albanese said the country remained "steady" at level two in the government's national fuel security plan.
An ABC analysis of real-time fuel price monitoring also shows the price of unleaded petrol has almost returned to pre-war levels.
As of 11am on Saturday, the average price of unleaded 91 was 186.4 cents. On February 28, the day the Middle East conflict erupted, it was 181.5 cents on average.
However, the average price of diesel still remains about 50 cents higher than it was on February 28, even after a sustained drop in recent weeks.
The government halved the fuel excise on petrol and diesel for three months from April 1, reducing the cost of fuel by 26.3 cents a litre.
The heavy vehicle road user charge was also reduced to zero for the same period to help truck drivers absorb the global fuel shock.
At the time, the government said the measures would cost taxpayers $2.55 billion.
