Representing Australia's Downstream Petroleum Industry

SUPPLY RELIABILITY

AIP has produced a new publication – Maintaining Supply Security and Reliability for Liquid Fuels in Australia – which provides a factual overview of the liquid fuels market and supply chain in Australia. It also details the key factors influencing the secure and reliable supply of liquid fuels to industry, business and consumers and explains why Australia is in a strong position to maintain a high quality supply performance into the future.

The publication covers:

  • Key Messages
  • Australia's integration in the Asian fuels market (and the key role of Asia in the Global Market)
  • The Australian liquid fuels supply chain
  • Supply diversity for liquid fuels
  • Flexible and secure shipping routes (and the importance of 'stock on water')
  • The Australian refining industry (and the impact of Australian refinery closures)
  • Australian supply and distribution infrastructure
  • Industry actions to maintain supply reliability and manage supply disruptions
  • Stockholdings in the Australian supply chain
  • Emergency planning and management
  • The roles of major fuel users and governments in maintaining supply security and reliability

A copy of the publication is available through the following link:

Maintaining Supply Security & Reliability for Liquid Fuels in Australia (2013) Download PDF

Australia's Maritime Petroleum Supply Chain

In 2013, Hale and Twomey was engaged by the Federal Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism (DRET) to examine and report on the maritime supply chain and the key role it plays in Australia's petroleum supply chain.

The report considers how the maritime supply chain operates for Australia and provides a high level summary of all the components in the shipping task from point of loading to discharge (the maritime supply chain). It describes features of the petroleum market where that interacts with the shipping task. The report is intended to inform those interested in understanding the maritime supply chain influences on the security of petroleum supply to Australia.

Some of the key security findings include:

  • Australia's supply routes are diverse and are likely to remain that way, even with refinery closures, as more product imports will come from locations other than Singapore.
  • Due to the time it takes a ship to travel around Australia, import ships spend a considerable part of their voyage in Australia's EEZ. This results in a large number of tankers close to or within Australia's EEZ and territorial waters at any time.
  • While Australia has a lot of import ports, they are typically quite isolated from each other and this makes it difficult to provide land transport back-up from other ports; using shipping to distribute product between ports is a major means of managing local disruption.
  • The number of product tankers servicing Australia will increase, even with tankers increasing in size and refineries converted to import terminals receiving larger tankers.
  • The import tankers can provide flexibility to respond to domestic supply disruption.
  • For the majority of Australia's petroleum imports, the Australian company is likely to own the oil from when it loads (FOB, CFR or CIF purchase). Shipping may still be contracted by the companies' international trading arm or a third party but the cargo owner will hold a documented property interest in the cargo.
  • Two scenarios were developed to consider how the shipping market would respond in a supply chain disruption. In reality it is difficult to envisage a scenario in which shipping is not available and historically we cannot point to an event which saw the collapse of the petroleum tanker market.

The Report is available for download below.

Report into Australia's Maritime Petroleum Supply Chain (June 2013) Download PDF

PETROLEUM IMPORT INFRASTRUCTURE IN AUSTRALIA

ACIL Tasman, on behalf of the Federal Department of Resources, Energy & Tourism, has completed a comprehensive Audit of terminals suitable for importing petroleum products into Australia. The findings of the Audit are outlined in ACIL's Tasman's report - 'Petroleum Import Infrastructure in Australia' – released by the Minister for Resources and Energy on 24 August 2009.

The Audit Report is a comprehensive stocktake of Australia's liquid fuel import infrastructure and involved extensive consultation with key market participants and stakeholders. The Report details the operation and economic structure of the industry at this level, as well as the ownership, commercial and access arrangements that are currently applying to this infrastructure around Australia. As a result, it provides a sound factual basis for assessing these aspects of the operation of the wholesale fuels market in Australia and for assessing claims about constraints to import competition in the fuels market.

The Audit's main conclusion is that existing import infrastructure and planned investments will result in spare capacity emerging in all jurisdictions except the Northern Territory over the two years from December 2008 and that, in general, the current operating environment and access arrangements do not impose material competition constraints for importers of petroleum products. For example, the Report indicates that "there is a total of 270 ML (million litres) of additional storage capacity in Australia currently under construction or committed, which is around 9 per cent of total storage capacity in Australia. Of this, 64 per cent is being installed by independent terminal operators." This highlights the significant investments that the downstream petroleum industry has been making to continue to reliably deliver fuel to Australian consumers and ensure the ongoing robustness of the Australian fuel supply chain.

The Government will consider the recommendations of the Audit in the context of long-term supply and demand issues, through the Energy White Paper process.

A copy of the Audit's Executive Summary and the Main Report are available through the following links:

Executive Summary Download PDF
Main Report Download PDF

DIESEL FUEL & BACK-UP GENERATION:
ISSUES FOR CEOS, RISK MANAGERS AND DIESEL USERS

This paper has been developed by the Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism in consultation with NOSEC, the Energy Infrastructure Assurance Advisory Group (EIAAG) and AIP. The paper provides information and general advice on the issues organisations should be aware of to ensure that back-up diesel systems and generators operate effectively when most needed. The paper provides CEOs, risk managers and diesel users with some background on the diesel market in Australia, including the key supply and demand issues that may arise with a power disruption and other supply disruptions. It also examines the issues an organisation needs to consider in the maintenance and testing of back-up generators and their fuel supply. This includes an emphasises on the need for major diesel users to discuss diesel fuel management and storage strategies with major fuel suppliers.

A copy of the paper is available through the following link:

Diesel Fuel & Back-Up Generation: Issues for CEOs, Risk Managers and Diesel Users (December 2009) Download PDF