In 2011, the Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism (RET, now Department of Industry) of the Australian Commonwealth Government produced a National Energy Security Assessment (NESA). This assessment identified energy security issues currently affecting Australia, and those likely to influence Australia’s energy security over the next 25 years.

One of the issues identified as a long term watch point for future energy security assessments was the continuing competitive pressure on Australian oil refineries. In 2012, Envisory was engaged to assess the impact on Australia’s oil security from potential closures in the refining sector due to competitive pressure.

A model of Australia’s petroleum supply chain was developed and used to evaluate the impact of possible refinery closures on the supply chain. A range of refinery closure scenarios were considered and the following issues were examined:

• Australia’s ability to source adequate petroleum supply following following refinery closures;
• The impact on supply security from a change in supply location;
• Potential choke points, or market barriers, arising from altered supply chains; and
• Impacts on supply security during a global supply disruption.

This report was released by the Department of Resources, Energy, and Tourism (now Department of Industry) in June 2012.

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