Brunei next stop for PM in Asian fuel supply mission
Anthony Albanese will seek greater assurances about Australia’s fuel supplies during his first prime ministerial visit to Brunei in more than a decade.
The Prime Minister left Sydney on Tuesday for a four-day visit to Brunei and Malaysia for talks aimed at maintaining the flow of gasoline and diesel.
Both countries play important roles in Australia’s fuel supply chains and the trip will build on Mr Albanese’s recent visit to Singapore, another vital exporter.
Mr Albanese will visit the Brunei Darussalam-Australia Memorial with Foreign Minister Penny Wong on Tuesday, where he will lay a wreath.
This site is dedicated to the 127 Australians killed and the hundreds of others injured while liberating Brunei and British North Borneo (now Malaysia) from Japanese occupation at the end of the Second World War.
Mr Albanese became the first Australian prime minister to visit Brunei since Tony Abbott for the East Asia Summit in 2013.
On Wednesday, he will meet with the Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah, where fuel will be at the forefront of the agenda.
Swinburne University engineering expert Hussein Dia described the trip as part of regional “fuel diplomacy” efforts aimed at ensuring long-term supplies.
Brunei ships about nine per cent of Australian diesel, while Malaysia is the third largest supplier, according to the government.
“I don’t think it’s a sign of immediate shortage or saying ‘give us priority’, I actually think it’s to keep the flow going,” Professor Dia said, adding that the government was likely “planning for a prolonged period of uncertainty”.
“It just reinforces that we’re good partners and we’re just here to seek reassurance and build on that.”
Brunei also supplies about 10 percent of imports of urea, which is used to make fertilizer.
Australia is Brunei’s largest trading partner and the largest source of energy.
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