AUSTRALIAN GOV'T TO RELEASE 762 MLN LITRES OF FUEL

CANBERRA, March 13 (Bernama-Xinhua) -- Australia's energy minister on Friday announced that the federal government will release up to 762 million litres of petrol and diesel from its domestic reserves amid the conflict in West Asia, reported Xinhua.

Chris Bowen announced that the release of up to 20 per cent of the baseline Minimum Stockholding Obligation for petrol and diesel will help to address fuel supply chain disruption.

He said the government will reduce the minimum national stockholding obligation for diesel from 2.7 billion litres to 2.2 billion litres and for petrol from 1 billion litres to 700 million litres.

The move would constitute Australia's response to a request from the International Energy Agency to release fuel reserves.

"This will enable the fuel companies to more flexibly manage their supply chain. This fuel will not be released immediately," he said.

Bowen said that Australia's fuel supply is secure and that ships are continuing to arrive in the country despite the conflict in West Asia, but that there could be future threats to supply if the conflict continues.

Despite the minimum stock obligations being in good shape, Bowen said the supply chain has struggled to cope with "massive spikes" in demand, particularly in regional Australia.

"There is no need for panic buying. Is the situation internationally serious? Yes, it is. Is Australia's fuel supply currently secure? Yes," he said.

It came after Bowen announced on Thursday that the government would temporarily amend fuel quality standards to allow higher sulfur levels for 60 days.

He said that doing so would allow around 100 million litres per month of new petrol supply. 

--BERNAMA-XINHUA