{"id":45124,"date":"2026-04-17T09:49:51","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T01:49:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=45124"},"modified":"2026-04-17T09:49:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T01:49:51","slug":"australian-pms-diesel-diplomacy-tour-calms-fears-at-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=45124","title":{"rendered":"Australian PM\u2019s diesel diplomacy tour calms fears at home"},"content":{"rendered":"


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SYDNEY <\/span>\u2013 For the past two weeks, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has travelled across South-east Asia with a simple message for regional leaders: Canberra will offer stable flows of gas and food in return for steady supplies of fuel and fertiliser. <\/p>\n

His so-called \u201cdiesel diplomacy\u201d tour,<\/span><\/a> which covered Singapore, Brunei and Malaysia, has been well received and resulted in joint commitments to ensure energy security.<\/p>\n

But while the visits strengthen Australia\u2019s ties with the region, experts say the main message has been for Mr Albanese\u2019s domestic audience. <\/p>\n

The trips are aimed at providing reassurance that Australia, which is heavily reliant on fuel and fertiliser imports, will have steady supplies as tensions in the Middle East continue.<\/p>\n

Associate Professor Flavio Macau, a supply chain expert at Edith Cowan University, told The Straits Times that Australia does not currently have a shortage of petrol<\/span><\/a> but had a problem with panic buying, which led to hundreds of petrol stations running out of diesel or petrol. <\/p>\n

He said Australia\u2019s recent agreements with regional countries helped reassure farmers and others reliant on diesel and fertilisers that Asian suppliers were committed to providing steady supplies.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt helps to go to these Asian countries \u2013 it provides reassurance,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis kind of trip is saying that this fuel is definitely headed to Australia and helps to provide assurance to people. Then demand goes back to normal and panic buying is less likely to happen,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Mr Albanese\u2019s latest stop was Malaysia on April 16, where he met his Malaysian counterpart Anwar Ibrahim, who promised that state-owned oil and gas company Petronas will look to provide Australia with any excess fuel supplies. <\/p>\n

Australia supplies 95 per cent of Malaysia\u2019s imported liquefied natural gas (LNG), while Malaysia accounts for about 13 per cent of Australia\u2019s refined fuel imports and 10 per cent of its imports of urea fertiliser.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have obtained an assurance from Petronas that once the domestic requirements are met, there is clearly some excess,\u201d Datuk Seri Anwar told reporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have given an assurance that the priority will be to Australia… We import gas, LNG from Australia, and they have assured us of this supply,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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Petronas chief operating officer Mohd Jukris Abdul Wahab (third from left) with Australia\u2019s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (second from right) and Foreign Minister Penny Wong (third from right) at a meeting at the Petronas Twin Towers headquarters in Kuala Lumpur on April 16.<\/p>\n

PHOTO: EPA<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Noted Professor Nafis Alam, head of the School of Business at Monash University Malaysia: \u201cFor both countries, the visit reinforces a model of \u2018strategic interdependence\u2019, where energy, food and industrial supply chains are treated as national security priorities, positioning the bilateral relationship as a stabilising anchor in an increasingly fragmented Indo-Pacific economic landscape.\u201d<\/p>\n

Australia is one of the world\u2019s three major exporters of LNG \u2013 along with the United States and Qatar \u2013 and is a major supplier in Asia, where countries have become concerned about the disruption to exports from Qatar due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and Iranian attacks on Qatari gas infrastructure.<\/p>\n

But Australia relies heavily on the region for supplies of petroleum, which is used for petrol, diesel and jet fuel. More than 80 per cent of Australia\u2019s petroleum imports come from Asia, with 29 per cent from South Korea and 20 per cent from Singapore.<\/p>\n

Mr Albanese\u2019s meetings with his counterparts in Singapore, Brunei and Malaysia have all resulted in firm declarations of a mutual commitment to cooperate on boosting regional energy security.<\/p>\n

Dr Lurion De Mello, a finance lecturer at Macquarie University, was sceptical about the need for the trip, saying that Singapore, Brunei and Malaysia were already reliable suppliers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no need to fly to the region to get more fuel,\u201d he told The Straits Times. \u201cThese countries are already stable suppliers.\u201d<\/p>\n

During his travels, Mr Albanese has been quick to remind the region that Australia has long been a reliable supplier of food and resources to the region.<\/p>\n

Sitting alongside Mr Anwar on April 16, Mr Albanese noted that Malaysia relies on Australian farmers for almost 60 per cent of its wheat and 75 per cent of its lamb and beef.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur neighbours know that providing fuel and fertiliser to Australia helps put food on the table in this region,\u201d he said. \u201cWe rely on each other for fuels, including crude petroleum and natural gas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Analysts have noted, however, that Australia has little or no capacity to offer any additional supplies of LNG as it has little scope to expand its production capacity. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think Australia can suddenly produce extra LNG. The infrastructure isn\u2019t there. We can\u2019t just click our fingers and have more infrastructure,\u201d said Dr De Mello.<\/p>\n

Australia has also been looking to ensure that it receives steady supplies of urea, even as there has been disruption to shipments from the Middle East, which typically accounts for 65 per cent of Australia\u2019s supplies. <\/p>\n

Before arriving in Malaysia, Mr Albanese spent two days in Brunei, becoming the first Australian leader to make a bilateral visit to the country. There was little doubt about the reason for the visit.<\/p>\n

Brunei supplies 11 per cent of Australia\u2019s urea imports and 9 per cent of its diesel imports. Australia, for its part, is the largest trading partner of Brunei, which imports most of its food and is a large buyer of Australian meat and livestock.<\/p>\n

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Visiting Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (left) and Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah at the Istana Nurul Iman in Bandar Seri Begawan on April 15, after signing a joint statement on energy and food security.<\/p>\n

PHOTO: REUTERS<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During his visit, Mr Albanese met Brunei\u2019s leader, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, and they agreed to avoid unjustified import and export restrictions and to \u201cconsult each other on any disruptions\u201d. <\/p>\n

This visit followed a separate trip to Singapore,<\/span><\/a> during which Mr Albanese and Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong committed to make \u201cmaximum efforts to meet each other\u2019s energy security needs in the context of the acute energy crisis currently affecting global markets\u201d.<\/p>\n

It was not surprising that Mr Albanese began his diesel diplomacy tour in Singapore, which is a major refined petroleum supplier but also has possibly the closest ties to Australia among the South-east Asian countries. Mr Albanese and PM Wong have met several times and refer to each other as friends.<\/p>\n

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Australian Prime Minister Albanese and Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong at a joint press conference at the Istana on April 10.<\/p>\n

PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mr Albanese evidently felt that the trip was a success as he quickly returned to the region the following week.<\/p>\n

Prof Macau said that while Mr Albanese\u2019s travels were primarily to send a message to Australians, these would also help shore up Canberra\u2019s ties with countries in the region, which would help it to withstand the current and future crises.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is important to show that Australia is an active player in this part of the world,\u201d he said. \u201cDoing nothing would mean we are isolating ourselves. It is good to stretch our muscles and say we want to be part of the game.\u201d <\/p>\n

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