Oil tankers serving Australia's oil needs are vulnerable as they sail through the Straits of Hormuz, then the Straits of Malacca, then to and from the main refinery in Singapore. Click on image to make it even larger. Image courtesy of stratrisks.
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One reason Australia maintains a submarine fleet is for early warning against threats to Australia's oil supply chain and to actively defend this chain.
Reported in Australia's Canberra Times, November 1, 2014:
"...two maritime hotspots that supply Australia with up to 70 per cent of its petrol, raising a concern over the nation's near-complete reliance on imported fuel.
...fuel routes between the Persian Gulf, Singapore and [then to] Australia.
...Australia now imports 91 per cent of its petrol and diesel – up from 60 per cent in 2000.
One major refinery in Singapore alone is responsible for producing half the fuel consumed in Australia.
[The Australian Government's] Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics calculates that Australia has 12 days of diesel stock but aviation fuel stocks are said to be even lower.
Australia is the only developed country without either mandated industry stockholdings, government-owned stockholdings or government control over any or some of its oil and fuel infrastructure."
Pete