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Diesel Reserve 'sensible step' (The Weekly Advertiser)

Press/Media: Expert Comment

Description

Nature of contribution: Expert source, quoted at length across several sections — the article's principal independent analytical voice alongside industry and political comment.

Description

Quoted on the Victorian Government's 10-million-litre agricultural diesel reserve and the Commonwealth's $10 billion national fertiliser and fuel reserve announcement. Welcomed both while identifying distribution rather than volume as the unresolved problem, arguing that the difficulty throughout the crisis had been moving fuel to farmers and regional areas rather than securing it in aggregate, and calling for clarity on where national storage would be located. Advocated decentralised regional storage on the Western Australian model, where multiple regional ports receive fuel directly, in preference to concentration at hubs such as Newcastle. Quantified the significance of the additions at seven to ten days of extra cover, and connected the case for buffer capacity to voyage duration — two to three weeks from Asian refineries and six to seven weeks for US diesel, the latter an increasingly significant source.

Theme

Fuel storage siting and distribution — the distinction between aggregate reserve volume and the logistics of moving fuel to regional and agricultural users.

Subject

Fuel storage siting and distribution — the distinction between aggregate reserve volume and the logistics of moving fuel to regional and agricultural users.

Period13 May 2026

Media contributions

1

Media contributions

  • TitleDiesel reserve ‘sensible step’
    Degree of recognitionNational
    Media name/outletThe Weekly Advertiser
    Media typeWeb
    Duration/Length/Size4 min read
    Country/TerritoryAustralia
    Date13/05/26
    DescriptionThis article reports the Victorian Government's establishment of a 10-million-litre diesel reserve for the state's agricultural sector, welcomed by the Victorian Farmers Federation and making Victoria the second state after Western Australia to hold a fuel reserve, releasable only if the Commonwealth activates level four of the National Fuel Security Plan. It sets this alongside the federal announcement of $10 billion for a national fertiliser reserve and approximately one billion litres of fuel, expanding onshore cover toward 50 days. Dr Lurion De Mello welcomes both measures while identifying distribution rather than volume as the outstanding problem, noting that the crisis exposed difficulty in moving fuel to farmers and regional areas rather than a shortage in aggregate, and calling for clarity on where national storage will be sited. He argues for decentralised regional storage following the Western Australian pattern of direct regional port receipt rather than concentration at hubs such as Newcastle, quantifies the announced additions at seven to ten days of additional cover, and links the case for buffers to voyage duration — two to three weeks from Asian refineries against six to seven weeks for the US diesel on which Australia has increasingly relied. Industry and political contributors call further for on-farm storage support to decentralise stockpiles and relieve pressure on distribution chains.
    URLhttps://theweeklyadvertiser.com.au/articles/diesel-reserve-sensible-step/
    PersonsLurion De Mello
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