This isnt bad luck, this is a supply chain designed for peacetime hitting a wartime reality. The next 2 weeks will be ugly.
33
the_colonelclink3 days ago
+28
No. Australia’s oil supply chain wasn’t even designed for peace time. They just privatised an import market and called it today.
28
Absolutedisgrace2 days ago
It was also made worse by previous governments who made short sighted decisions that pretty much lined their own pockets.
0
randytankard3 days ago
+6
We've had to pay a couple of billion of taxpayers dollars to keep the 2 large remaining refineries here otherwise they'd have closed up about 5-6 years ago. So Governments have given money to oil companies to try and maintain some level of onshore processing but the oil companies rather just import finished product from SE Asia.
We do produce a small amount of crude but that's also exported to refineries overseas.
6
Educational-Art-85153 days ago
+3
It's got nothing to do with "fuel companies rather importing the finished product from SE Asia" - they are just responding to market demand.
Australians do not want to pay higher prices for fuel that would be incurred from having any material domestic refining industry. Blaming fuel companies for this is absurd.
3
dmk_aus3 days ago
+2
Australians pay high prices. The companies move processing to countries with less worker, safety and environmental regulations so they can have more margin.
2
randytankard3 days ago
+4
Well you can lick the boots of the oil companies mate, I ain't stopping you.
4
Glum_Bat9373 days ago
+6
You are trolling, I’m fairly certain. Educational-Art-8515’s comment was so sensible that in a normal forum it wouldn’t even need to be said.
6
wiggum555552 days ago
+1
Even our peacetime fuel supply chain is horrifyingly fragile... we only hold 25-35 days of TOTAL national fuel stocks at any given time... covering petrol, diesel & aviation fuel. The seafreight transit time from Singapore and South Korea to Australia is 21-28 days. *(which is where most of our fuel imports come from.. in normal times).*
The global average for developed nations is 90 days reserves. Smart countries are holding a lot more, in the order of +200 days.
Here though... we prefer to just wing it and live dangerously. she'll be right mate. it'll work out. (we hope).
1
CupEcstatic27213 days ago
+18
After the trial of the arsonists in Poland and the incident in Serbia, one involuntarily begins to suspect that Russia also had a hand in this, although the facts suggest otherwise.
18
fat_pokemon2 days ago
+2
The plan was more than 60 years old. Fire was legit a engineering failure.
2
clamorous_owle3 days ago
+12
>The cause of the blaze and the extent of the damage was not immediately clear.
So could this be intentional?
12
Jerri_man3 days ago
+24
Most likely its the result of ramping up production while keeping costs and maintanence at a (continued) minimum.
24
GreyClay3 days ago
+1
It’s like the literally dozens of Russian aircraft lost to accidents during the war in Ukraine - here I’m only referring to the ones that **weren’t** shot down.
The increased tempo of the war in Ukraine has meant that Russian planes and helicopters are flying far more and yet being serviced less frequently / thoroughly than before.
In the same way, as Jerri_man said the refinery would have been working at above their usual capacity level and some kind of breakdown in the machinery has occurred, that likely wouldn’t have occurred (or at least not occurred for another few years) had the Iran war not happened.
Our government is *terrified* of fuel shortages - they know that our right wing populist party will use the fuel shortages to garner support.
So our Prime Minister has been on unscheduled trips to Singapore, Brunei and Malaysia trying to guarantee our fuel (and fertiliser) supplies.
1
Silver_Middle_72403 days ago
+2
It could be, but probably not. Refinery fires are not unusual
2
stonertear3 days ago
+4
Considering the last one was in 1988 in Australia. Very unusual.
4
Silver_Middle_72403 days ago
+2
Australia only has two refineries.
The last accidental fire at a refinery was a couple months ago, in texas
2
stonertear3 days ago
+4
That's not in Australia though
4
____DEADPOOL_______3 days ago
+2
[3 hours from where I live](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Texas+QLD+4385/@-28.8533796,151.1060933,59149m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x6ba2900d7dd85a6b:0x400eef17f20a950!8m2!3d-28.854722!4d151.168333!16zL20vMDJ3bm1n?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDQxMy4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D), [bruh](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas,_Queensland), but no fire happened there.
2
stonertear3 days ago
+3
There you hvae it - theres a Texas is QLD
3
____DEADPOOL_______3 days ago
+1
I live near a neighbourhood that has some or all US state names as street names. Where I live, it's all mountain and volcano names.
1
mrmikehunt513 days ago
-1
This is not true. The ones that they do have are usually from human f*** ups/ operator error. Surprisingly, lightning has caused quite a few over the years striking tanks as well but definitely not common. Start up is the most dangerous time for a refinery.
-1
randytankard3 days ago
-1
It was caused by an LNG leak.
-1
wiggum555552 days ago
+1
This is a good 10 minute explainer that popped up a coupld weeks ago. (ignoring the fact that he says "2002" in the first sentence but means 2022... ) The rest is simple, fact based and informative IMO.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu6xnDSZyHM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu6xnDSZyHM)
26 Comments