[Peakoil-announce] NRMA warns on fuel stocks

[Alex Pollard]

The NRMA press release and report are here

http://www.mynrma.com.au/about/media/australias-liquid-fuel-security-report.htm
http://www.mynrma.com.au/media/Fuel_Security_Report.pdf
http://www.mynrma.com.au/media/NRMA_Fuel_Security_Infographic.pdf

Alex

O4O4873828
ACT Peak Oil Inc.


Doomsday warning on fuel stock 




     by: 
Cameron Stewart 
    

     From: 
The
Australian 
    

     February 28, 2013 12:00AM 
    

    

    
AUSTRALIA would grind to a
halt within three  weeks with almost no deliveries of food or medicine
if its overseas oil  and fuel supplies were cut off.

    
An 
NRMA-commissioned report on the nation's liquid fuel
security released today
says the government has allowed  the country to become too dependent
on foreign supply of liquid fuels.
    
It says there are no coherent 
contingency plans to deal with the devastating impact of any cut to 
overseas supply because of war, economic turmoil or natural disasters,
 instead adopting a "she'll be right" approach.
    
The 
report, written by retired RAAF Air Vice-Marshal John Blackburn,
finds that 85 per cent of
transport fuel comes from  overseas crude oil or imported
fuel.
    
This dependency on overseas oil and 
fuel has increased steadily during the past three decades and will 
continue to rise as local refinery capacity decreases.
    
"Almost 95 per cent of our road 
transport network relies on oil and it would be crippled within weeks
if  Australia's liquid fuel supply was disrupted," NRMA Motoring
and  Services director Graham Blight said. "We have about three
weeks' worth  of fuel at our disposal before the country would come to
a standstill."
    
The report finds that if overseas oil
 and fuel supplies are cut, the lack of adequate transport will see
dry  shops run out of chilled, frozen and dry food within seven to
nine days;  chemists will run out of medicine within a week, hospitals
 within three days and fuel supplies for motorists will be exhausted
in  three days.
    
The report says reliance on overseas 
supplies of liquid fuel will only grow with the expected loss of 28
per  cent of Australia's oil refinery capacity by 2014 following the
planned  closure of Sydney's Clyde and Kurnell refineries.
    
Despite the report's findings, the 
government has not previously viewed fuel security as a major concern 
because it says Australia will always have access to global markets
for  liquid fuel.
    
"The 2011 National Energy
Security  Assessment found that a significant reduction in refining
capacity is  not expected to cause fuel security problems, given our
access to  well-functioning global markets that can provide adequate
and reliable  supply," the report notes.
    
But the report finds the government's
 attitude towards fuel security is complacent and Australia would
"not be  the first country" in history to get such an
important assumption wrong  . . . The very small consumption
stockholdings of oil and  liquid fuels in Australia, combined with
what appears to be a narrow  assessment of our fuel supply chain
vulnerabilities, does not provide  much confidence that the strategic
risks to our fuel supply chain are  well understood and mitigated by
our nation's leaders,  the business community or the population at
large," the report says.
    
The NRMA's Mr Blight said in light of
 the findings, the government should bring forward its planned 2014 
assessment of liquid fuel vulnerability.
    
He said a fuel security plan was
needed  to reduce dependence on overseas fuel supplies by sourcing
local  supplies and safeguarding local refining capacities.
    
Australia also needed to develop 
non-oil-based alternatives such as LPG and electric vehicles, he
added.