How Australia is coping

About 10 days ago, I had a post on Australia. This post is a continuation of the story. The prior post was on seeing diesel and fuel price hikes. Well, as the price increases have continued, the Australian government is stepping in to assist. How? Cutting the excise tax by half for the next 3 months.

Interesting thought on securing supplies. I did not realize Australia’s oil production had dropped so drastically. In the 2000s, Australia was producing over 700K bbls daily. The country’s production is 398K bbls/day (2024 data), and consumption is > 1.1M bbls/day. OTOH, Australia does have a very high EV adoption rate - in the mid teens.

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Even one of the World’s top oil producers, Norway, now has 96% EV new car sales.

Driver: This success is largely due to tax incentives making gas-powered vehicles much more expensive than EVs

intercst

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Isn’t Norway the outlier? I mean, its neighbor in the Westward direction (the one Trump wanted to invade) is at around 12% EV adoption.

Definitely. They got on the electrification bandwagon early. Better to export the oil & gas poison.

intercst

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Norway has the funds, generated by oil, to transform itself. Maybe if Denmark had oil rigs instead of windmills offshore they could do the same. Norway is exporting pollution just like California but with better fiscal management.

The Captain

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Australia bears a certain resemblance to California here. Currently, Australia has two operational oil refineries. The number of refineries has decreased over the years, from eight in the early 2000s to four by 2020, and now down to two.

Have 10-12% of cars sales as BEVs isn’t going to help them much here.

DB2

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True. But, I think as 2026 continues more Australian car buyers will give a lot more consideration to buying an EV or hybrid. Their charging capacity seems to be growing at a reasonable pace (I saw one article suggest 100 plugs/month) with multiple charging station vendors besides Tesla.

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True enough. But I’ll bet the gyrating price of gas and diesel might have some people taking a second look.

I wonder if the price of sunshine is being affected the same way.

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Denmark does not have windmills offshore. They have wind turbines offshore, onshore and solar generation making them one of the cleanest electricity countries in the world (91% LowCarbon). Denmark Electricity Generation Mix 2025 | Low-Carbon Power Data

What makes you think that California is exporting pollution?

Thingies with blades turned by wind?

Instead of drilling for oil they import oil. Worthless value signaling.

The Captain

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What, you mean these things aren’t grinding wheat into flour. No?

LOL

Pete

  • California petroleum is known for its low sulfur content, making it a cleaner-burning fuel.

  • The state produces a variety of crude oils, including heavy and light grades.

  • Environmental regulations in California lead to stricter refining processes.

  • The quality can vary significantly between different oil fields and production methods.

  • California’s petroleum is often blended with other fuels to meet specific standards.

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And California’s refineries are shutting down due to increasingly stringent and more expensive processing. California will be importing increasing amounts refined elsewhere (until their ban on ICE vehicles becomes effective).