Australian motorists are being warned of an urgent problem as the war in Ukraine rages on.
The country’s reliance on overseas fuel continues to rise despite international security concerns.
Australia’s fuel supplies could run dry in as little as a month in the event of another major crisis.
The Australia Institute is concerned the country relies too heavily on foreign oil.
“It should concern every Australian that 91 per cent of Australia’s fuel – like petrol and diesel – is linked to imports,” the institute’s Richie Merzian said.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has highlighted links between international security and fuel reliance.
Mr Merzian called the state of affairs a “national security problem”.
Despite almost three quarters of Australia’s liquid fuel being used for transport, the Australia Institute found solutions such as the electrification of vehicles continued to be ignored.
More than $2 billion has been budgeted to support Australia’s two remaining oil refineries.
But nothing was committed in the latest federal budget for electric vehicles.
In a new report, the Australia Institute found if all passenger vehicles to were transferred to electric technology, 33 per cent of imported oil could be replaced with domestic power.
In addition, in the event of a disruption, most vehicles would continue to run.
As of January this year, Australia officially had just 68 days of liquid fuel, falling short of the International Energy Agency’s 90-day requirement.
In reality, the country’s supplies are expected to last only 32 days based on average daily consumption over the past year.
“The Australian Government tries to bolster this by including some 21 days of fuel in transit to Australia or onboard ships docked in foreign ports – the majority of which are foreign vessels,” Mr Merzian said.
“There is no guarantee that this fuel would reach Australia in the event of a crisis.”
The federal government is yet to release the findings of a 2019 fuel security report, raising concerns the review could become buried if the coalition loses the upcoming election.
“High petrol prices are already hurting Australians. The only long-term solution is getting off oil. This involves increasing fuel efficiency and transitioning to electric vehicles,” Mr Merizan said.
“Australia is an international laggard when it comes to fuel efficiency.
“Weak fuel standards and an absence of a national electric vehicle policy leave Australia axjmtzywmong the least fuel-efficient fleets in the OECD, and far behind the rest of the world in electric vehicle uptake.”
