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Oil glut sparks welcome fuel buy up
Elizabeth Gracie
The Federal Government has invested $94 million Australian dollars in the establishment of an Australian strategic fuel reserve, with the National Farmers Federation noting the investment gives farmers certainty for the future.
While Australia was already in the process of negotiating fuel storage in the United States through the latter's Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR), the current pandemic has highlighted the fragility of global trade and logistics in emergency events.
The new measures announced by energy minister Angus Taylor hint at the possible establishment of Australian reserves, calling for "the private sector to identify the best options for further strengthening fuel security in Australia."
Tony Mahar, chief executive, NFF, says, "Fuel is essential to allowing farmers to produce the food and fibre that keeps our nation running in a time of crisis such as the present.
“The strategic reserve will make Australia’s fuel supply more secure and resilient, thereby giving farmers certainty that they will not run dry."
Whilst the coronavirus pandemic has been one that has caused immense hardship, Mahar says that “this announcement is clear evidence of the Government’s commitment to ensuring Australian farmers have access to a reliable supply of fuel” in the efforts to bring fresh produce to supermarket shelves and keep it there.
“84% of on-farm energy use is diesel. Diesel is indispensable in everything from tractors to harvesters to irrigation pumps to refrigeration” Prudence Gordon, General Manager of Trade and Economics at the NFF said.
“The strategic reserve will make Australia’s fuel supply more secure and resilient, thereby giving farmers certainty that they will not run dry” Mahar also noted.
Gordon notes that the ability of farmers to produce food and fibre depends on them having access to affordable supplies of diesel, with the new fuel reserve providing “a level of security that did not previously exist”.
Whilst the coronavirus pandemic has been one that has caused immense hardship, Mahar says that “this announcement is clear evidence of the Government’s commitment to ensuring Australian farmers have access to a reliable supply of fuel” in the efforts to bring fresh produce to supermarket shelves and keep it there.
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