00:01The foreign minister says that China's government, including China's foreign minister, Wang Yi,
00:07who she met yesterday in Beijing, have committed to try to facilitate discussions between China's
00:13state-owned oil companies and Australian customers. Now, this, of course, is in the context of China
00:18really pulling back a lot of its oil exports. And this is a potential big problem for Australia
00:23because it's our largest exporter of jet fuel. With China pulling back there, there are potential
00:30shortfalls of the Australian market. Now, Senator Wang said that Wang Yi and others in the Chinese
00:35system have now agreed to facilitate those conversations. Let's take a listen to what
00:40she had to say. This is an important step. However, it is the first step. One of the messages that
00:48Australia is articulating is the extent to which our energy security is shared. And the nature
00:54of the supply chains in the region are that energy supplies to us impact upon our capacity
01:05to provide other energy and other commodities to the region. Well, the broader context here
01:11is that it might be pretty good timing for the government because the Chinese government,
01:16according to multiple reports in, for example, Reuters and the Financial Times, might now
01:21be on the brink of relaxing some of those restrictions on oil exports. Now, that's not because anyone
01:27has been pushing them to do it or not chiefly because of anyone pushing them to do it, but
01:31because they're now more confident about their own domestic supply. Notwithstanding some of the
01:36huge uncertainties we're still looking at globally with the Strait of Hormuz effectively still closed,
01:41of course, and on top of that, a rapidly rising oil price globally. Nonetheless, if China is feeling
01:48more confident about its situation, then it might well be in a position to allow some of those state
01:53owned oil companies to start to export more broadly. That would have big implications, not just for
01:58Australia, but also for other Asian nations, which are heavily reliant on China, particularly when it
02:04comes to jet fuel, but we'll have to wait and see.
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