Australia will build its first refinery in 60 years

According to Reuters, quoted by Miningweekly, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on Tuesday that he would consider building the first oil refinery in more than 60 years, because the Middle East war has reduced overseas supply and increased the urgency of improving energy security.

Albanese said that the project will help improve the resilience and autonomy of fuel supply and may help the country to withstand the impact of future supply disruptions.

If the project proves feasible, the new large-scale refinery will be built by Perdaman, an industrial chemical producer in Western Australia, Albanese revealed.

"The Middle East War has had an impact on the whole world, and ... Australia is no exception," Albanese told reporters in Kalassa, Pilbara, Western Australia.

One thing to do to build national resilience is to make Australia less affected by world events.

Albanese said that the federal government and the Western Australian government will jointly invest 4 million Australian dollars (2.8 million US dollars) to carry out the feasibility study of the refinery.

"We want to ensure that the site is suitable, and we also want to ensure that the project is feasible and can be smoothly promoted," Albanese added.

About 80% of Australia's fuel oil consumption depends on imports, and the Iranian war has made Australia's fuel supply very tight.

A report by the Australian Ministry of Finance warned that the global oil market has become more fragile and "the buffering capacity against supply shocks has weakened", so the government has vigorously promoted the reduction of dependence on oil imports.

The briefing submitted by the Ministry of Finance to Minister Jim Chalmers over the weekend said that since the Middle East conflict intensified, the global oil inventory level has declined, and the supply of refined oil market is now facing further tightening.

Most domestic refineries in Australia were built in 1950s and 1960s, but high operating costs and the emergence of large Asian refineries forced many refineries to close down in the past three decades.

Ampol's refinery in Queensland and Viva Energy's refinery in Victoria (both located in the east of the country) are the only two refineries still in operation, compared with eight in 2000.

In 2021, BP decided to convert its 146,000-barrel-a-day refinery in Kwinana, Western Australia, into a fuel import terminal, and the only refinery in the state was closed.

source:https://geoglobal.mnr.gov.cn/zx/kydt/zhyw/202607/t20260730_10283503.htm