00:05All right, well good morning everyone and welcome to the Ampol Lytton Refinery.
00:10My name is Cara Kulk, I'm the local federal member here and it's my great pleasure to
00:14welcome Prime Minister Anthony Albanese here and of course Minister Chris Bowen as well.
00:19We've just had a wonderful tour of the facility.
00:22This is a really important facility in my electorate, employing almost a thousand people
00:26on site at the moment and also of course really important nationally as one of only two
00:32refineries across the country.
00:34I'd like to introduce Matt Halliday who is the CEO of Ampol to say a few words.
00:41Thank you very much.
00:42I'd certainly like to welcome the Prime Minister, the Energy and Climate Change Minister
00:46and a member for Bonner here today.
00:49Ampol is Australia's locally owned and governed downstream fuels company
00:55and as just mentioned, operates one of the two remaining oil refineries in Australia.
01:02Lytton supplies about 10% of Australia's transport fuel needs and about 40% of needs for Ampol's customers.
01:11Clearly in the situation that has arisen out of the Middle East, we've been working closely
01:16with the government and we appreciate the support that's been taken very promptly.
01:22Steps such as the temporary reduction in MSO inventory levels, the temporary adjustment to gasoline,
01:29fuel standards to allow more fuel to stay in Australia and the recent announcement around the Export Finance Australia
01:38financing arrangements to help more cargoes come to Australia and further bolster the fuel resilience of the Australian supply chain.
01:46We certainly look forward to continuing to work with government to underpin the really important role that Lytton plays long
01:52term for the fuel industry in Australia.
01:54I'd like to now hand over to the Prime Minister.
01:59Well, thanks very much, Matt.
02:01And thank you to you and the workers here at Lytton in what is one of Australia's most important facilities.
02:10700 people employed here directly and indirectly as contractors, making an enormous difference for the national interest
02:18which Australians are so concerned about at the moment because of the global crisis that has arisen as a result
02:27of the conflict in the Middle East.
02:29A conflict a long way away, but a conflict that is making a difference here for Australians.
02:36This is one of Australia's two refineries. There were six when we left office in 2013.
02:43When we came back in 2022, there were just two.
02:48But this is such an important facility and it's been great talking with Matt and the other people here at
02:56Ampol
02:57for the difference that the policy decisions have made to the capacity of this refinery.
03:04The difference that changes to the fuel standards have made, increasing the capacity for fuel to stay here in Australia
03:12by about 20%, making an enormous difference.
03:16But today as well, we have an important announcement, which is that last week we were able to pass through
03:23the parliament the fuel security powers to allow EFA, Export Finance Australia, to be able to give the underwriting of
03:34companies to be able to go out there and source additional fuel for Australia's supply.
03:41And today I can announce that Export Finance Australia have agreed to terms with our two largest suppliers, Viva Energy,
03:50of course, based in Geelong and Ampol based right here, to enable them to bring more fuel to Australia.
03:57This is not business as usual. Importantly, this is additional supply here in Australia that they will be able to
04:05source.
04:06And as part of this agreement, of course, the government can direct where that supply goes.
04:12So that particularly going to regional Australia and areas that are under pressure in terms of supply.
04:19This is an important announcement today. And it comes on the back of yesterday's announcement of a two week ceasefire.
04:28We want to say this, that this is an important step forward. Of course, it is a fragile peace, but
04:35we want it to lead to an agreement.
04:38The Australian government also firmly believes that this has to apply to Lebanon as well.
04:45We want to see peace in this region and it will make a difference.
04:50And I know that many Australians are concerned about the events that are occurring in Lebanon.
04:56This is a matter of not just the impact there, but the impact that it's having right around the world.
05:05So yesterday was an important agreement. We want to see it pursued.
05:11But the pressures, of course, as we have said, an end to the conflict, even if it is a permanent
05:17end of the conflict that we want to see,
05:20doesn't mean that the Straits of Hormuz are automatically reopened and that it's back to business as usual.
05:28This will have a long tail, which is why after this, we will travel to Singapore.
05:34I'm looking forward to a constructive meeting with Prime Minister Lawrence Wong tomorrow.
05:41This is an important relationship.
05:43We have spent four years building relationships in our region, particularly with ASEAN leaders.
05:49Prime Minister Wong and Singapore, the relationship that we have is a critical one.
05:55And of course, Singapore is a major supplier of fuel to Australia.
06:00So I'm looking forward to that tomorrow.
06:04And I'd ask the Minister Bowen to make some comments.
06:08Then we'll take a few questions.
06:11Thanks very much, PM.
06:13Well, firstly, I want to thank everyone who's worked so hard to make the announcement the Prime Minister's just made
06:19a reality.
06:20As you know, we passed the legislation to enable Export Finance Australia to intervene to support fuel imports into Australia
06:27in record time through the Parliament.
06:30And then a lot of people worked hard over Easter, including in Ampol and in Viva and in Export Finance
06:36Australia and in my department,
06:38to make this agreement that was struck overnight a reality.
06:41This now enables Ampol and Viva, with an agreement in place on the commercial terms,
06:46to go out and buy spot cargoes with the support of the government when they become available.
06:51And as Matt could tell you better than I can, these cargoes become available at short notice and quick decisions
06:57have to be made.
06:58And this agreement will now enable those decisions to be made.
07:01This agreement now and the EFA intervention is more important now, in my view, than it was even last week.
07:08With the oil price moving around, a lot of speculation about what will happen in the Middle East,
07:14these purchases become even riskier for companies like Ampol and Viva.
07:18The oil price might move substantially by the time the spot cargo gets from where Matt or Viva buy it
07:25and the time it gets to Australia.
07:27So this arrangement will enable the companies to take a purchase that would have been non-commercial
07:33and to go out and buy that fuel for Australians that otherwise would go to other countries.
07:39And that is very much in our national interest.
07:41Can I just also give you the, as I do every day, my daily update on service station outages.
07:47In New South Wales, we're continuing to make good progress.
07:50Today, 112 service stations without diesel, that's down 12 on yesterday.
07:54This is part of an ongoing trend where we're seeing the number of servos without diesel come down each and
08:00every day.
08:00This is particularly pleasing against the backdrop of Easter,
08:04where obviously a lot of people were moving around, demand was up.
08:07Ampol's demand for fuel was up 30% on the Easter before, similar with Viva.
08:12But nevertheless, we've been able to work with the industry to see those deliveries to service stations,
08:18particularly in regional New South Wales, which is where the biggest question has been
08:20because rightly everyone's been prioritising farmers who are getting their seeds into the ground.
08:26So 112 in New South Wales, 24 total stock out, that's down also on yesterday.
08:30Victoria, 43 without diesel, 12, sorry 26 with no unleaded.
08:36Queensland, 32 without diesel, 23 with no unleaded.
08:39South Australia, 4 and 5.
08:41Western Australia, 11 and 20.
08:44Tasmania, 8 and 6.
08:45Northern Territory, 4 without diesel, 6 without unleaded.
08:48And the ACT, 2 without diesel, no service stations without unleaded.
08:52So, again, as I've said before, a big shout-out to everyone who's working very hard.
08:56I know Ampol's increased its truck fleet, as has Viva, by around 20%,
09:01just to get more fuel to the places it needs to be in this very difficult period
09:05where we've seen continued high demand, particularly for diesel,
09:09continued elevated purchasing of fuel.
09:12We need to keep up with that demand by increasing supply.
09:15That's exactly what we're doing, and the announcement today
09:16that we are now having an agreement with Viva and Ampol,
09:21with other agreements well-advanced.
09:23There are other agreements EFA has well-advanced
09:25that are progressing through the system,
09:27and the Prime Minister and I will have more to say about that
09:30when those agreements are finalised, but they're very well-advanced.
09:32But, importantly, Australia's two biggest players now have these agreements locked in.
09:36They can go ahead and do the right thing by Australia now,
09:39and get that fuel for Australians.
09:42What are the concerns of these agreements that you were raising here to make costs?
09:48Well, what we're doing with EFA, essentially,
09:51these agreements will enable people, Ampol, on the spot market,
09:56if the price of something was normally $100, and it's $120 or $30,
10:05and they wouldn't do that because it's beyond normal commercial rates.
10:10If the price then goes down, it will enable them to mitigate that risk, to underwrite.
10:17So that's the basis of it.
10:21And so our position is, your question assumes that we know how many spot purchases are made,
10:29and for what price they are made.
10:32This is a market that is moving up and down.
10:36What this is about is Ampol and Viva coming to terms,
10:40so that we get that increased supply here.
10:43Yeah, some sort of funding of local companies,
10:47and a lot of $2 billion that we allocated to the firm.
10:50When can we certainly be used?
10:52How many targets would they manage for any of their companies?
10:55These are commercial arrangements,
10:57and so obviously if you're out there bidding,
11:01and we tell you what the price is, guess what?
11:05It would be like going to an auction,
11:06and telling you in advance how much you have in your pocket,
11:11and are prepared to bid.
11:13We want to protect taxpayers' interest,
11:15we want to minimise taxpayers' exposure,
11:18but our first priority, to be very clear, is supply.
11:22There is supply available on the spot market.
11:25We know that that's the case.
11:26This will enable Ampol and Viva to participate in that market.
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