US Trends

where does australia get its petrol from

Australia now gets most of its petrol from overseas, mainly from refineries in Asia, rather than from oil produced and refined at home.

Quick Scoop: Where Australia Gets Its Petrol

  • Australia is a net importer of fuel – roughly about 80–90% of its petrol and other liquid fuels now come from overseas.
  • Only a small share comes from crude oil produced in Australian fields, and much of that domestic crude is actually exported rather than refined locally.
  • Petrol sold at the bowser (servo) is mostly refined in large Asian refineries, then shipped in as finished product.

Main Countries Supplying Australia’s Petrol

Most imported petrol and other fuel products come from nearby Asian refining hubs:

  • Singapore – the biggest single supplier and key regional trading hub for refined petrol and diesel.
  • South Korea – another major source of refined fuel cargoes.
  • Japan – important supplier of refined products.
  • China and Malaysia – both supply refined fuel into the Australian market.
  • Thailand and the United States – contribute smaller but still significant volumes.

On the crude oil side (the raw oil that can be refined into petrol), Australia’s supplies are diversified and include:

  • Malaysia
  • Australia itself (domestic offshore and onshore fields)
  • Indonesia
  • New Zealand
  • Papua New Guinea

These crude streams are either exported, shipped to remaining Australian refineries, or traded into the regional market.

Role of Australia’s Remaining Refineries

Australia used to have more refineries, but several have closed and been converted into import terminals. Today, petrol gets to your tank in two main ways:

  1. Imported as finished petrol
    • Large tankers deliver refined petrol directly to fuel import terminals near big ports.
    • From there, it goes by pipeline or truck to service stations.
  1. Refined locally from crude oil
    • Two main operating refineries (Brisbane/Lytton and Geelong) process crude oil into petrol, diesel, and jet fuel.
 * Even these refineries rely heavily on imported crude from countries like Malaysia and other regional producers.

Why Australia Relies So Much on Imports

  • Several older refineries shut down because they could not compete with huge, modern Asian “mega‑refineries” that produce fuel more cheaply.
  • As refineries closed, the sites were turned into fuel import terminals, increasing dependence on imported refined petrol.
  • Government and industry reports have warned this makes Australia more exposed to global supply disruptions and shipping route risks.

Simple Example: A Tank of Petrol in Sydney

Imagine you fill up in Sydney today:

  • The petrol in that tank was very likely refined in Singapore or South Korea, not in Australia.
  • It arrived by tanker to an import terminal (often a former refinery site), was stored, then trucked out to your local servo.

TL;DR: If you’re wondering “where does Australia get its petrol from?”, the short answer is: mostly from big refineries in Singapore, South Korea, Japan, China, Malaysia, Thailand and the US, with only a smaller share refined locally from a mix of Australian and regional crude oil.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.