Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Despite desperate last minute offers of subsidies from the Federal Government, one of the last oil refineries in Australia is set to close, along with a string of dependent industries, thanks to years of political hostility towards manufacturing and petrochemicals.
Altona refinery closure to ripple across industry
Angela Macdonald-Smith
Senior resources writer
Updated Feb 10, 2021 – 7.29pm,first published at 10.19amFears are growing that the shutdown of ExxonMobil’s Altona oil refinery will trigger a domino-like series of closures of petrochemical businesses in Melbourne’s west, causing the loss of up to 2000 jobs as well as critical manufacturing capability and fuel security.
About 300 jobs are directly impacted by the closure, which was confirmed by the US major on Wednesday, but the indirect impact on administrators, contractors and manufacturers that rely on the 72-year-old refinery for business means the effect will be much broader, Australian Workers’ Union national secretary Daniel Walton said.
Steve Bell, chief executive of basic plastics maker Qenos, which uses LPG from the Exxon plant, confirmed the concerns around the shutdown go much wider than energy production.
“As manufacturers and unions have identified, this is also about jobs, the economy, and the future of energy-intensive, value-adding manufacturing in this country,” Mr Bell said.
He said the decision – which came despite subsidies offered by the Morrison government – reinforced the need for Canberra to get the policy settings right on gas to secure competitive prices for manufacturers and protect jobs.
…
“Australia’s fuel security, low for many years, is now almost zero,” tweeted Australian Industry Group policy adviser Tennant Reed. “If anything ever impedes the freedom of the seas, we are toast.”
…
Read more: https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/fears-for-fallout-from-altona-refinery-closure-20210210-p5714n
The closure of Altona Refinery will leave Australia with three functioning oil refineries, down from eleven just a few decades ago, and a massive dependency on fuel imports. Any disruption to shipping, say if military conflict kicks off in the South China Sea, would cripple Australia’s economy and likely lead to rapid degradation of Australia’s defence capabilities.
What led to all those refineries closing? As far as I can tell the main culprits were a hostile regulatory environment, like Victorian state restrictions on fracking and exploration, increasing compliance costs, and a choking off of the supply of crude oil to Australian refineries.
With compliance costs rising, and volumes plummeting, there was simply no point keeping the refineries open. The closure of the refineries is in turn triggering a domino series of closures of dependent industries, many of which were co-located next to the refineries; businesses which utterly relied on the steady flow of petroleum products from the refineries to function.
This same scenario could easily play out in the next few years in the USA. Biden has already moved to choke the supply of crude oil to US refineries, with his cancellation of Keystone and Federal drilling bans.
The easiest way for companies to protect their oil refineries from the promised wave of punitive environmental regulations and carbon levies is to move the refining operations and if necessary company headquarters overseas, out of reach of US federal regulators, and then starve the USA of gasoline until the profit from rising prices balances out any Biden imposed taxes and costs.
Close all and try to survive, you’ll see how far you come.
I’ve been trying to work out the ultimate culprit for all this lunacy, and I’ve come to the conclusion that the subsidised expansion of higher education is chiefly to blame – taxpayers have essentially paid for the “long march through the institutions” that is going to ruin their lives.
observer,
the key to a root understanding of what is taking place will be found in the frantic warnings put forth by Yuri Bezmenov almost 40 years ago.
As an active participant in the non kinetic global war of psychological neutering of the USSR’s enemies (aka the West/Capitalism), he had an insider’s perspective of the ongoing successful operations, of which your stated educational institutions are but one component.
Post the 1992 break from Headquarters Moscow, a massive, clumsily transparent shift of resources into Bejing rapidly transformed an agrarian backwater into the global colossus we see today.
It is scary how accurate Yuri described what happened to the United States. He was off though in how long he thought it would take. Everyone should see his interviews, Before they are disappeared from the internet. Almost Everything he said would happen, has in the USA
Back in the nineteen twenties a Mr Lenin said “First we will take Eastern Europe, then the teeming masses of the East. Next we will surround the last bastion of Capitalism – the United States of America, We will not need to invade, rather it will fall as ripe fruit into our basket/hands”.
The root cause is government, period. It can only expand, never shrink, and every expansion brings more intrusion into people’s lives, and makes it literally more profitable to sic the government on your neighbors and competitors before they sic government on you.
Australian refineries have been closing since the 1980s , despite the bigger car numbers, increased heavy truck mileage/usage and a boom in aviation.
The real reason is the competition from asian mega refineries who have newer complexes which sell fuel at lower margins.
The situation is obvious when you see many of the closed refineries are still keeping their tank storage and wharves for the import tankers.
Its called outsourcing, some may have heard of it.
And the reason why outsourcing is cheaper is because of government.
No it isnt. Its a normal process of ‘unrestrained’ capitalism
Australian capitalism is so “restrained” you can’t say the difference from socialism
It’s unrestrained capitalism restrained by government regulation in Australia and lip-service regulation by Asian countries
Wow, extreme socialism is actually unrestrained capitalism?
I suspect you are one of those people who believe that everything that isn’t pure communism is some form of capitalism.
Not at all.
Industry across the board. The only “industries” left will be housing and health!
You forgot welfare
I did forget pensions for politicians, so you got me there!
But who is financing Big Brother government ? Not the taxpayer. The direct tax system was only invented to control the population. It gave those in power the tool to know EVERYTHING about you. Freedom and a Direct Taxation system cannot coexist. So Who can print all it needs to corrupt the system ?
The far left is pushing Biden to excuse all school loans.
Most of the surviving will go back where they came from, but the remainder i.e. Aborigines will do just fine. Eric needs to book one way airline ticket before prices take off into stratosphere.
To where.?
The whole world is becoming infected/infested with socialist/marxist, totalitarian, anti-people moroons !!
“To where.?”
I have wondered about that too. Where would someone in the U.S. move if the worst predictions about Democrat policies come true? Certainly not Australia or Europe,
My answer, from very little knowledge (which I know is a dangerous thing) is: South Korea. South Korea is an economic power house. I have done engineering contract work for a couple Korean companies. The Koreans I met were straight-forward, easy to talk with, people. The one time I visited Korea (Seoul, and Inchon) I was impressed.
Perhaps someone with experience living in the country could comment.
South Korea, Thailand and around there.
Will there be enough “coding” jobs for everyone?
There will be
enoughGreen jobs, beside these going to China.There will be enough green jobs to go round, broad acre farming with manual labour springs to mind
I don’t think Australia has enough electricity for coding jobs.
abacus coding
It will because domestic used of “electrckery” will be rationed.
By your ‘smart’ meter
What a story. Shocking to see the globalist elites flying around in their private jets when the creeping damage to both jobs and the production capacity is being fed into the CAGW scam. I wonder how bad it has to get before the idiots voting/tolerating this culture destruction realize they have been had? Especially when the promised green jobs don’t show up!
Closing refineries leads to less fuel for aviation, at least I’ll suggest, than is game over for private jets.
First reflect, than act. Only, that isn’t the Green way 😀
You think Greens and corporate jet-owning global elitists are the same thing? Wow haven’t 1% propagandists done a fine job on you.
Shall we run down the list of Hollywood climate activists that make a habit of jetting from one Green-fest to another, or are you going to quit while you’re behind?
Some use super-yachts, is what I think Loy-dumb is trying to say.
And what fuels those super-yachts?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superyacht
A few, like the Black Pearl, are masted
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Pearl_(yacht)
But most, like the Azzam, run on Diesel
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azzam_(2013_yacht)
Soon to be a galley/ super-yacht rower/slave will be a green job.
Loy-dumb
TOTALLY UNAWARE , as always !!
Loy-dumb. Classy put down Fred…. if you are 6 (an immature 6).
Poor slimon, bereft of everything.
You are a mindless non-entity, simpleton..
And yes, Loy keeps proving just how dumb he is.
Just as you keep proving how “SIMPLE” you are.
With clueless twerps like you and Loy, it is essential that people keep pointing out to you, just how simple and dumb you really are.
There is no way you will figure it out for yourself.
Well that one is better. Expanding on “dumb” is good. At least a at a 7 year old level.
Your incompetence is showing through as always, insipid moron.
You and Loy cannot help being DUMB and SIMPLE.
Your minds are incapable of anything else.
“You and Loy cannot help being DUMB and SIMPLE.”
I get that you are just expressing yourself as best you can here Fred, but given this site has a policy that states:
I do wonder why the mods here allow such comments?
Loydo, is paid to spout this drivel.
While not all greens are global elites, pretty much all global elites are greens.
Essentially, greens are Marxists, but because marxism/comunism sound scary to the woke, they call themselves greens. At the same time the woke elites virtue signal their green credentials in order to be popular, and to profit from the green triggered power shift.
Posing as green, woke, socialist is a deliberate tactic used by the elites to give themselves cover from the rabid Marxist mobs who would otherwise be burning their mansions, running off with their luxury assets and stripping their bank accounts.
“See, we’re on your side”
The by progressives so hated 1 %
what about the former Department of Climate Change, and their globetrotting habits? And the Climate Council and all those countless people sucking at the federal and state budgets teat and producing nothing other than methane gas?
Near enough.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jun/23/greenpeace-defends-top-executive-flying-to-work
As usual, you confuse the one part of what I said with an other part of what I said. Short, no, I don’t think that by 20 %.
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was.
where are the dragons?
The political fallout from these traitorous government moves will be handled in the usual fashion, straight out of Labor’s political playbook –
Victorian state premier Dan Andrews will announce that he’s stepping down just before the next election, saying he wants to “spend more time with the family”.
Then the Labor machine will set up a “hospital pass” to some naive, expendable female MP to take over from Dan Andrews.
“some naive, expendable female MP”
A perfect candidate would be the current Minister for Police and Emergency Services but I guess there are others.
hes just locked the entire bloody state down again!!! for 5 days to begin with
masks mandatory everywhere again no visits etc
5km limit to travel
this just as valentines day was going to help the restaurants etc get some work, weddings cancelled the lot
called it at 12pm so no one got enough notice to cancel deliveries etc and cant sell what food flowers etc they have in for it.
funny they managed to do the same just before mothers day fathers day and xmas n yr was iffy
oh and its chinese n yr I gather as well
and why?
becuae a few os travellers got covid UK and some staff and relatives who worked the hotel quarantine all up just 13 cases over more than 7 days and they go full headless chicken mode
He’s a dickhead! The ENTIRE state for 13 “cases” in the SAME QUARANTINE hotel in the CBD of Melbourne? Dickhead he is! Shows his “world class” policy isn’t working!
I wonder how bad it has to get before the idiots voting/tolerating this culture destruction realize they have been had?
Who do we vote for? The Liberal (red) party in the West Australian State election has just come out with a policy for carbon neutral by 2030. Nine years!! The madness never ends.
The domino effect is starting in Australia. It will certainly move to the US, as industries of many stripes, leave. I would like to think that we in Canada might benefit, but one only has to read Rex Murphy’s commentary in the National Post, about our ‘Worst in History’ PM, and I realize that I should not hold my breath, waiting. Good luck, World. There are tough times ahead.
It’s a race to the bottom!
Followed shortly by the usual suspects whining about evil capitalists shipping OUR jobs overseas.
Once again Down Under becomes the crash test dummy for environmentalist and AGW diktats. So where will the Marxists turn to for providing the money to fuel their ideology after they’ve successfully destroyed Capitalism? The Iron Lady was right …. “until you run out of other people’s money”.
Frank Zappa’s “Cocaine Decisions” came to mind when I read this.
The deficit spending will be paid for with QE until monetary velocity picks up and we get hyperinflation followed by currency collapses. At that point TPTB will probably usher in digital-only currencies to help combat “tax evasion” and “profiteering”.
The Leftist plan on manufacturing ‘dollars’ via collaboration of the U.S. Federal Reserve central bank with the U.S. Treasury. Many trillions of fresh new currency.
What could possibly go wrong?
(Zimbabwe, Weimar Republic hyperinflation anyone?)
Don’t worry about all those jobs, they’ll be replaced with many more high paying green jobs. Stop whining, they’re working on it as hard as they can.
Rick – you forgot the “sarc” tag!
don’t need a sarc tag any longer
And the plastic industries will be converted in paper or wood makers?
Step 1. Destroy or cripple the industry with government diktats and propaganda causing damage to peoples lives and livelihoods and danger to national security.
Step 2. In the better case, transform the industry to a government-run cesspool and lie about what happened, assuming the social order survives the national security challenge.
Viva Venezuela.
What were you expecting from
Gov. diktators. The beating will stop when the climate is cured.
I did a bit of quick research, and disagree that this closure is due to AUS climate policies. And subsidies are probably not the underlying issue.
Altoona is both the oldest (72 years) and smallest refinery in Aus according to Wiki.The average age of US refineries is about 40 years, and they are all larger, according to EIA. Altoona is structurally disadvantaged even if now fully amortized, as the following paragraph explains.
Refineries are a classic example of ‘spherical’ scale economies. Their capital cost is a rough function of surface ‘r^2’ while their capacity is a rough function of volume ‘r^3’. Bigger is also inherently more thermally efficient, for the same reasons: Heat is in the volume, heat loss is thru the surface. Bigger is always cheaper. And according to Argonne national labs, ‘newer’ refineries are also more efficient at equivalent size thanks to improved technology, although this also depends on the relative timing of upgrades, which all US refineries do from time to time.
In the US late last year, Marathon announced it was permanently closing its two oldest and smallest refineries, one in California and one in New Mexico, with a direct job loss of 800. Based on jobs, one or both of those are larger than Altoona.
The capacity of Altona refinery in Melborne, Oz is reported to be 90,000 barrels per day, about half of typical Canadian refineries and 1/4 that of the big Irving refinery in St John, NB.
Small old refineries tend to close because of poor economics – that’s been happening for many decades.
The bigger question is why are new larger refineries not being built in Oz, and the answer is probably the anti-fossil fuel policies of imbecilic green Ozzie politicians.
Here is a subtle hint I wrote years ago about energy reality:
Every time I read something like that I seriously think about becoming a prepper.
They do have a cool theme song which goes:
“I’m a prepper, you’re a prepper
He’s a prepper, she’s a prepper
Wouldn’t you like to be a prepper too?”
Preppers were called survivalists in the 1970s.
Altona Refinery was expanded around 1970 after the discovery of the Gippsland offshore oil and gas fields, and it is connected by pipeline, as is the Shell Refinery (now Viva) at nearby Geelong. At its peak Gippsland produced over 450,000 bbl/day, supplying 50% of Australia’s requirements, but it has now declined to about 25,000 bbl/day, forcing Altona Refinery to increasingly depend on imported crudes like Tapis from Malaysia. Victoria is still dependent on Gippsland for natural gas, ethane and LPG supplies.
I suspect the long standing Victorian ban on exploration and fracking may have contributed to the decline. Altona is part of Melbourne, the capital of Victoria, and Gippsland is also part of Victoria. Why invest where you are not welcome?
The Gippsland gas/oil comes from Bass St, which isnt ‘part of the state’.
Its like the US where the Federal government runs the offshore side of exploration drilling.
Yes they are misguided with the fracking ban but it doesnt stop offshore exploration
Why wasn’t it redeveloped or moved? Australia currently runs a big deficit in domestic fuel production vs requirements, yet we have plenty of reserves. Something doesn’t add up.
Eric, I think Allen McCrae answered your question. I would have added that observation, but thought would keep my comment strictly to Altoona.
I certainly agree with your point about sufficient crude but insufficient refining capacity for AUS. However, it may be that a new scale refinery for Aus isn’t economic because of amortization of older large refineries elsewhere. For example, the last ‘new’ US greenfield refinery was completed in 1977. Amazing but true, just double checked. Since then, its been all upgrades to existing refineries.
I think Allen’s comment about “imbecilic green” politicians probably applies to the USA as well. New refineries are still being built – far away from burdensome regulations and hostile politicians.
I think we’re on the same page on this issue, possibly I should have expanded on my point, asked why the refinery wasn’t upgraded or moved, rather than just attacking the decision to close it.
Think about the permitting extravaganza and red-tape bonanza that comes with attempting to build a refinery.
media bite I heard said theyd use it for storing imported fuel
for how long unsaid
they shut SA pt Stanvac down left it for decade+ then bitched it was toxic soils spent megabucks then opened it for housing
tidy profit to developers etc
suspect someones got some longrange land grab ideas for Vic too
I hear there is only 14 days reserve fuel for domestic use. Glad I don’t need it!
With Greens on your side, who needs enemies?
Will the internment camps be green?
Soylent Green
Is it time for Atlas to shrug?
Yes.
Atlas will shrug when he has nothing left to lose. We’re a long way from that point.
I think it would be a lot easier to try to fix our current civilisation, even at this late stage.
There’s a terrific youtube series, “How to make everything”, where the show narrator / producer tracks down raw ingredients and produces basic components of civilisation like iron tools, pottery, glass.
Lets put it this way, it won’t be easy to set up Galt’s Gulch. The shear breadth of knowledge required, and the diverse range of raw materials required for even simple things, would make it difficult to hang on to medieval levels of technology in an isolated small community, let alone something resembling the modern age.
Electricity should be doable. Some of the first generators and electric motors used copper wires wrapped in cotton thread, or tree resin, readily available ingredients if you master basic metal smelting.
Forget semiconductors, the production process is way too advanced. But old fashioned radio tubes might be feasible, and the same technology could also be used to make light bulbs.
You might find a valley somewhere with coal, copper and coal deposits, but what about molybdenum, borax and tungsten?
Copper wires expand too much when bonded to glass lightbulbs or radio tubes, it cracks the glass of the light bulbs or radio vacuum tubes. Molybdenum was used because of its low co-efficient of expansion and chemical compatibility.
You need Borax for making clear glass and smelting metal – Borax flux protects the metal from oxidising while it is molten.
Of course the Molybdenum has to be bonded to a tungsten filament – tungsten is required for high temperature filaments in light bulbs and radio tubes, with a melting point over 6000F it stands up to a lot of punishment.
I’m sure if it comes down to it people will make it work somehow. But its not going to be an easy process, and it will require more resources than what you can find in some delightful little valley.
Well, simple semiconductors, like diodes, rectifiers, AM detectors and so forth you can make from iron nails on a stove top, or from copper oxidized in a steam atmosphere, but we are talking pretty limited applications here — no computing.
Fair point – Galena detectors and so forth. But transistors require impurities less than 0.00000001%, difficult to achieve in a tech constrained environment.
reckon theres a lifetime or three we can recycle re pcs n bits
whats worst is we may well LOSE the skilled workers knowledge to be able to rebuild, if/when when the nutters meet their fate
I think we’re already well on the way there. The “must go to college” movement that tends to look down on “uneducated” labor like the trades has resulted in a lack of skilled workers in the very fields required to keep the infrastructure going. There’s some people working to change that (like Mike Rowe) but will they be successful enough?
Hmm – my comment was approved? That comment required approval?
Looking at the comment it would appear that WUWT’s filters have a “Scunthorpe problem” where they are catching “bad” words contained within other words, such as the word in my comment that comes between “lack of” and “workers”
I wonder if “Scunthorpe” will trigger this one…
Already gone.
They don’t have to go completely off grid in order to have an impact.
“…The easiest way for companies to protect their oil refineries from the promised wave of punitive environmental regulations and carbon levies is to move the refining operations and if necessary company headquarters overseas, out of reach of US federal regulators, and then starve the USA of gasoline until the profit from rising prices balances out any Biden imposed taxes and costs…”
Or these companies could start of protest movement by temporarily interrupting their production and services to demonstrate to everybody what the consequences are of the anti-fossil fuel people and their demands that governments are pandering to. When the impacts on the lives of people and the economy start becoming clear from the supply interruption, the reaction would be interesting to watch.
The fossil fuel companies would need to make it clear to the public why they are doing this and what needs to change in the Biden Administration. They need to make it clear to the public that the only technologically feasible alternative to fossil fuels on a large scale is nuclear, but I do not see any large scale nuclear plant building projects in the works.
I realize this will probably not happen because of the obligations to shareholders and customers which fossil fuel companies have to respect and honor. The companies will probably be seen as the bad guys instead of Biden and govt regulators.
If the fossil fuel companies have their eyes on foreign countries, maybe Mexico would be a possibility.
I hate to say this but I hope you are kidding.
This is *EXACTLY* what Hugo Chavez accused the oil companies of doing before he nationalized them and ruined them.
Do you believe the Socialists Democrats like Biden, Harris, Sanders, Pelosi, Schumer, and all the others wouldn’t do the exact same thing in America?
Didn’t know that Chavez had done that Tim.
Now that I’ve given it more thought, it undoubtedly would be a very stupid thing for the fossil fuel companies to interrupt supplies as a form of protest. That probably would be all the Democrats would need to pound nails in the coffins of the fossil fuel companies on the way to ruining them.
I still say the key to this whole thing is to challenge the scientific credibility of the CAGW alarmist narrative with the available studies and data. I am not hold my breath waiting for somebody in a position of influence to do that.
Companies wind up doing what their host countries tell them.
Its not only the loss of the various fuels that are manufactured from crude oil, to meet the demands of the Australian economy, its also the loss of the oil derivatives manufactured from oil that are used to make more than 6,000 products that are the basis of economies and lifestyles. Placing dependency on foreign supplies to meet these demands, may be a national security risk for Australia.
were already AT risk
fuel supply petrol for 29 days diesel maybe a tad longer
anything happens to sea lanes etc we’re stuffed
So after absorbing our former steel, plastics, electronics and other manufacturing, most of the word’s refining will also take place in Asia as well. Guess the Aussies need to learn to code too.
Look at this story about Shell which came out this morning. … https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/538392-shell-unveils-plans-for-emissions-cuts
excerpt- “Central to its path forward are the closures of seven refineries and plans to cut down production of gasoline and diesel fuel by 55 percent in the next 10 years …”
So, short Shell via long duration out of the put options. If they are as stupid as that announcement, a lower stock price will soon follow.
It appears Shell’s medium-term plan is to mine subsidies. They seem to be betting on government mandates, regulations and subsidies to grow.
Isn’t the Biden administration saying they’re going to cut oil subsidies? I heard something about that somewhere but I don’t recall the details.
Realistically, the U.S. will have to write off Australia and NZ in the military phase of China’s expansions. A similar assessment for England came from Amb. Joe Kennedy leading up to the air and sea war of WW2 around the English Channel.
What makes you think that the former US’s military considers China a threat rather than a partner? The ruling elite have agreed to hand over their respective countries to China in return for wealth and power. The purge has been going on in the former US’s military for some time so that the brass in the Pentagram are sympathetic to China’s expansion.
First, they came for nuclear… reprocessing. Then, they came for hydrocarbons, and to spread the Green blight. Bad, perhaps wicked solutions. Throw another baby on the barbie, cannibalize her profitable parts, sequester her carbon pollutants. it’s over.
I have seen the enemy and the enemy is Green.
Mexico is adding a new refinery in AMLO’s home state even though two other refineries are running at less than 50 percent capacity. Maybe Mexico can export refined products to Australia….before their crude oil from under-invested fields runs out.
Australia will get its refined products from Asia, like they do now.
Its the tax shifting which is part of the outsourcing process, a subsidiary in Singapore will pay the local refinery for a tankerload and then the Australian subsidiary will pay the other business a premium, all that profit will be booked in Singapore under its low tax provisions.
Singapore has capacity of 1.5 mill barrels PER DAY, yet the tiny island treats cars like endangered primates, its expensive and difficult to get one.
Where do you think the 1.5 mill gpd will be going, but once Australia has no more refineries , well thats the end of the sweetheart deals they made earlier
That’s all very very well! What happens when the sea lanes are closed due to conflict?
The super refineries of China can sell refined products to Australia….maybe with good behavior.
resource,
Your last 4 words are, tragically, a very large piece of this ongoing global ‘puzzle’.
It is clearly NOT just happenstance.
With a promise to love you long time, but no guarantee happy ending.
Experience from Vietnam: Never believe a B-girl.
Not to worry, Aussies, Chairman Xi is coming to the rescue with the 3 brand new petchem projects – costing ~$10 billion – which will soon be joined by the massive new $20 billion Shandong petchem complex.
Bonus points will be that Xi will be able to provide your resource-rich country with petrol, manufactured goods, and countless contemporary examples of how a country thrives when its leaders ruthlessly exploits the intellectual, social, and psychological weaknesses of its global competitors.
Do not feel badly.
Your Canadian and American cousins will soon join your legions of listless, unemployed fellow Oz colleagues as we sit around wondering how it all this predictable destruction came to be.
You all miss the conclusion Australia will while sailing on it’s present course,become another province of China after all has not Australia got everything that China lacks ?
What matters is the refining capacity. Is the capacity now (even after the close) greater than or less than what it was circa 1980?
Who cares?
Mr. Lee, the hidden premise of your question is that demand has no relevance, only capacity. That’s not how modern economies work. Demand drives supply. There are more Aussies today who have incentive to purchase fossil fuel derived products than there have ever been before.
But I don’t know what your question has to do with the original article. Australia is slowly strangling its last oil refineries and in so doing making itself increasingly vulnerable to predatory countries in the world market. The article never talked about Australia’s refinery capacity over time.
Some industries are very vulnerable to fuel shortages in Australia. Just 1 delivery on a day failed quality checks & caused disruptions & workarounds for an airport. We’re at the mercy of others.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/nov/25/fuel-rationing-at-melbourne-airport-disrupts-flights
Many uses of petroleum products have synergies to use various fractions of the raw crude & gases produced during refining. Ranges from petrol to engine oil, tars (bitumen), plastics, fertilisers to industrial food processing (burning gas to cook). There are efficiencies for having a working refinery near sea ports, airport & industrial users.
Tell all the bogan leaders in Canberra to go walkabout. Paint themselves, and go out with a stick to survive. I’m not at all knocking the aboriginals. They know how to survive with little, but the smug nonsense from governing elites is dinky di disgusting.
sorry to explode your bubble but the aboriginals are 98% dependant on good ol whitey
we fall over- their handouts etc stop as well
It’s no problem destroying fossil fuel infrastructure.
Green energy infrastructure to replace it will rise out of the sea.
Biden’s new dept. of energy pick Nongqawuse.
Nothing like getting hung with your own rope. Look Ma no brains.
And all this because of the ANTI-SCIENCE, ANTI-LIFE, ANTI-CO2 regressive agenda based on a tiny warming since the coldest period in 10,000 years
Even more evidence of a MUCH WARMER period before the LIA
https://notrickszone.com/2021/02/11/seals-mammoths-horses-waterfowl-all-tell-us-claims-of-exceptional-modern-warmth-are-bull-hockey/
“He said the decision – which came despite subsidies offered by the Morrison government”.
FAKE Scott Morrison OFFER to cover the real agenda.
Feigned concern . . .
Liberal Party under Morrison receives large donations from Chevron/Sing Pet (refining JV) who will now make up the shortfall by exporting refined products to Australia.
This is a Scott Morrison stitch-up of Melbourne manufacturing!!
This is corruption at it’s most serious and damaging.
Asia eating our local industry with the help of our traitorous Federal and State politicians on both sides.
No problem. China will open a new refinery to meet your demand as long as you don’t get out of line.
Doomed I tell ya. We’re all doomed!
Hyundai Kona Electric Fires Caused By LG Cell Defect (insideevs.com)
Petrol fires are common in cars too
Yes but consumers and their lawyers don’t like spontaneously-
Recently Recalled Hyundai Kona Electric Catches Fire In South Korea (insideevs.com)
LG are big with EV battery supply-
CATL & LG Chem Are World’s Biggest EV Battery Producers (cleantechnica.com)
and the big push for EVs generally-
Tech giants make inroads into carmakers’ territory (koreatimes.co.kr)
but as they point out-
“You don’t get to the top 3, or the top 5, without making some big news along the way.”
So they may be staring at the Takata abyss whilst making many potential EV buyers head off looking for proven Toyota hybrid technology instead if they can’t stump up for a Tesla.
On a per capita basis, the numbers are no where close.
Beyond that, you usually have to hit a car, very hard, to get it to start burning.
Electrics on the other hand have a habit of self igniting whenever they feel like it.
Can australians carry arms?
No, it’s very strict here. Farmers get a few breaks.
Not since the mid-1990’s. Australians gave away that right to Howard.
Exxon Altona refinery is not a major refinery by world standards, it’s capacity is only 75 BPD. Granted Australia’s refineries are not large in general The largest refineries in Australia are small by world standards, largest being 138,000 bpd. Total refining capacity is 766700 bpd including Altona. So this is not very significant.
Australia in general is not a major country by world standards; its population is only 27 million. California and Texas each have more people than Australia.
And yet many Australians think our CO2 emissions are the biggest per capita.