5 hours ago
3
New changes will see "additional diesel supply into Australia" as Chris Bowen reveals over 550 service stations are out of at least one fuel type.
The Federal Government has temporarily lowered quality standards for diesel fuel in a bid to unlock additional supply for Australian service stations grappling with shortages.
The announcement comes as Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen, has revealed a figure of 564 service stations across the country had run dry of at least one type of fuel as of Tuesday.
However, these figures represent a minority of outlets in each state, as seen in the table below.
| New South Wales | 2417 | 164 (no diesel); 289 (missing at least one fuel type) |
| Queensland | 1800 | 55 (no diesel); 35 (no regular unleaded) |
| Victoria | 1627 | 162 (one or more grades unavailable) |
| Western Australia | 771 | 6 (total stock out) |
| South Australia | 700 | 46 (one or more grades unavailable) |
| Tasmania | 250 | 1 (no diesel); 6 (no unleaded) |
| Northern Territory | N/A | 0 (supply-related); issues limited to flood/road access |
| ACT | N/A | 0 (no outages reported) |
The changes to diesel, which will last for six months, are hoped to allow for imports from a wider range of sources, and give Australia's onshore refiners more flexibility with the diesel they produce.
“I have changed the diesel standards when it comes to the combustion temperature and allowed a slightly lower combustion temperature of 60.5 degrees, which is called the flashpoint,” Bowen said.
It “provides a little more flexibility to importers as to what diesel we can import into Australia and a little more flexibility for refiners,” the minister said.
Bowen said the changes would not impact engines or emissions, citing that similar changes were made in 2020 amid COVID-19 restrictions, and there was no adverse impact – though it is not clear if newer cars with more advanced engines now on local roads will react differently.
Prior to the announcement, the flashpoint standard for diesel in Australia was 61.5 degrees Celsius, which is higher than that of the United States, Canada, and Europe.
According to the Minister, Australia typically keeps its flash point requirement higher due to the country's hotter climate.
This flashpoint change does not require any changes to storage or handling protocols.
The flashpoint is the lowest temperature at which a liquid gives off flammable vapours that can be ignited. Australian diesel's new flashpoint standard of 60.5 degrees still makes it significantly less flammable than petrol, which typically has a flashpoint of around minus 43 degrees.
Max is the News Publishing Coordinator for Drive. He enjoys creating engaging digital content, including videos, podcasts, interactive maps, and graphs. Prior to Drive, he studied at Monash University and gained experience working for various publications. He grew up playing Burnout 3: Takedown on the PS2 and was disappointed when real life car races didn’t have the same physics.
