00:01The Government recently rushed legislation through Parliament giving itself extraordinary
00:06powers to basically underwrite future fuel shipments because at the moment oil prices
00:10are rising so quickly that by the time shipments maybe are purchased and make it to Australia
00:15but oil prices might have fallen and so what the Government is doing today or has announced
00:19today is that it has signed contracts with our two refineries Viva in Geelong and Ampol
00:24in Brisbane to secure extra shipments of fuel so not the ones that are already contracted
00:28to arrive but additional supplies on the spot market and these cargoes come up pretty quickly
00:33and need to be purchased quickly at very high prices and so the Government's really reducing
00:37the risk in these sorts of commercial decisions but what we know at the moment is that the
00:42disruption of the supply chain because of the closure of the Strait of Humus means that most
00:46of our shipments would ordinarily be coming from Asia which is not too far away. Right
00:50now they're coming from as far away as Africa, the United States, even Europe and as I say
00:55this adds great time and cost to these shipments but this morning we saw the Prime Minister
01:00Anthony Albanese and the Energy Minister Chris Bowen at the Ampol refinery in Brisbane to announce
01:05this deal that's been done flagging that more deals will be done in coming days and weeks. Here's
01:11what Chris Bowen had to say. These purchases become even riskier for companies like Ampol and
01:18Viva as the oil price might move substantially by the time the spot cargo gets from where Matt
01:24or Viva buy it and the time it gets to Australia. So this arrangement will enable the companies
01:30to take a purchase that would have been non-commercial and to go out and buy that fuel for Australians
01:37that otherwise will go to other countries and that is very much in our national interest.
01:41And Jane the Prime Minister is now on his way there to Singapore. Why is this an important
01:46stop for him? You know this is part of more of a regionally focused mission, Ros, to shore
01:52up supplies in the Asia-Pacific region. So Singapore is hugely important because it's three refineries
01:57here as well as other oil that's traded basically supplies more than half of Australia's unleaded
02:02petrol. It's also our second biggest supply of diesel and jet fuel. This is a big oil trading
02:08powerhouse here in Singapore. So Anthony Albanese basically wants to ensure that that fuel keeps
02:13flowing. Last month I should say the Prime Minister as well as the Singapore Prime Minister
02:20Lawrence Wong signed an agreement, a fuel security agreement, basically to maintain the flow of fuel
02:25from Singapore to Australia but also the flow of LNG gas from Australia to Singapore. Singapore is a huge
02:32buyer on the spot market and a lot of that is Australian gas. So the two leaders will use their
02:37bilateral meeting tomorrow really to cement that agreement. Lawrence Wong is a man who's in demand
02:42because Australia is not the only buyer of Singapore fuel. So the fact that Mr Albanese was able to
02:49secure this hastily arranged meeting from his perspective is being seen as a win. Now we're not
02:54necessarily expecting, Ros, to see any sort of new supply agreements signed tomorrow. They're largely
03:00commercial arrangements but if things worsen, I think there's a view from both sides that they want
03:05Australia to prioritise Singapore and vice versa if this crisis does get worse. Here's what Mr Albanese had to
03:12say in Brisbane today before getting on the plane to Singapore. I'm looking forward to a constructive
03:18meeting with Prime Minister Lawrence Wong tomorrow. This is an important relationship. We have spent four
03:25years building relationships in our region particularly with ASEAN leaders. Prime Minister Wong and Singapore,
03:32the relationship that we have is a critical one and of course Singapore is a major supplier of fuel to
03:41Australia.
03:42So that's the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaking ahead of his visit to Singapore, making it pretty clear
03:46he's relying on that diplomatic relationship.
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