SINGAPORE: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will seek to boost ties with a key supplier of refined fuel in Singapore on Friday (April 10) as a shaky ceasefire between the United States and Iran showed no sign of curbing petrol prices.
Australia relies on imports for an estimated 90 percent of its refined petroleum products.
Three per cent of service stations across the country were reported this week to have run out of diesel.
Albanese will meet with Singaporean leader Lawrence Wong on Friday after a tour of Jurong Island, where the city state's key oil refining facilities are located.
The city state provides Australia with more than a quarter of its refined fuel.
In turn, Australia is Singapore's second-largest supplier of liquefied natural gas.
"It is in both of our countries' interests to engage with each other to make sure that we are both reliable suppliers," Albanese said on Thursday as he arrived in Singapore.
"It's so important that at difficult times in the world we can rely upon each other," he said.
"This is an important relationship at a time where fuel security is on the agenda, right around the globe due to the conflict in the Middle East," the Australian leader added.
Energy Minister Chris Bowen said Thursday that 216 service stations across Australia were without diesel -- roughly 2.7 per cent of the total.
The country has 39 days' worth of petrol, he added. - AFP
