Climate and Energy minister Chris Bowen says rebuilding closed refineries ‘not realistic’
Climate and Energy Minister Chris Bowen has all but ruled out rebuilding shuttered refineries on Australian soil.
At a press conference on Sunday, Mr Bowen said the government would work to ensure fuel security for Australians but did not plan to reinstate the four Australian oil refineries that were closed from 2013 to 2022.
“When a refinery is shut down, it is effectively dismantled,” he said.
“You can’t just bring them back, you can’t magic them back.
“Rebuilding is not that easy or cheap; the time to save a refinery is when it exists.
“I increased (the two existing refineries’) ability to access payments to maintain their sustainability in an internationally competitive refining environment.”
Mr Bowen said the government would look at short-term and long-term solutions to the fuel crisis and assured no other Australian refineries would be closed under a Labor government.
“No refinery has closed during our tenure and will not close,” he said.
“We are in constant discussions about fuel security and what sensible things can be taken into account; there is a budget coming up, if there are sensible measures the government will take them into account.
“If there are proposals to extract more oil in Australia, these should be looked at very carefully and sensitively to replace oil imports.
“We are also building energy security by diversifying our energy, including renewable energy, including solar, which is uninterrupted in its flow to Australia, and wind, which is not disrupted by sanctions.
“But I want to manage the expectations of rebuilding one of the refineries that were closed under the Liberal government at huge costs, which is not a realistic opportunity for our country.”
Mr Bowen announced a further 939 million liters of crude oil will be delivered to Australia over the next four weeks to be converted into fuel at our two remaining refineries.
