Australian refiner Ampol will delay the scheduled major maintenance turnaround at its 110,000 b/d Lytton refinery in Brisbane from early June to August, it said in a stock exchange filing on Friday.
The postponement will allow Ampol to maintain higher production levels, delivering an additional approximately 300 million liters of petrol, diesel and jet fuel to the domestic market.
The Lytton facility, together with Viva Energy's 120,000 b/d Geelong refinery, produces around 12 billion liters of petrol, diesel and jet fuel annually, meeting about 20% of Australia's total fuel requirements.
Both refiners have welcomed the Australian government's recent adjustments to the Fuel Security Services Payment scheme, also announced on Friday.
Key changes include raising the Margin Marker cap and collar by 3.6 Australian cents per liter or Acpl, equivalent to approximately A$5.70/bbl (US$4.04/bbl).
The collar has increased from 6.4 Acpl to 10.0 Acpl, with a capped payment of up to 1.8 Acpl on actual production when the government refining margin marker falls to 8.2 Acpl or below in a given calendar quarter.
In return for this enhanced support, Ampol and Viva Energy are advancing plans to keep their refineries operational into the 2030s, Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen said in a news release on Friday.
The country's fuel supply has been strained by the cancellation of refined fuel exports from China to the Asia-Pacific region, combined with increased domestic demand amid ongoing supply disruptions in the global oil market due to the Middle East crisis.
To help address this, the government has introduced a temporary amendment to the gasoline fuel standard, enabling an additional 80 million to 100 million liters per month of petrol from Ampol's Lytton refinery to be sold domestically rather than exported. The measure is effective for 60 days.
Product yields at the Lytton refinery are approximately 48% gasoline, 40% diesel, 9% jet fuel, and 2% for other products.
The combination of delayed maintenance, government support and temporary regulatory flexibility is aimed at stabilizing domestic fuel availability and reducing the reliance on international supplies amid the current volatility.
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--Reporting by Thomas Cho, tcho@opisnet.com; Editing by Mei-Hwen Wong, mwong@opisnet.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 20, 2026 01:47 ET (05:47 GMT)
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