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SINGAPORE, Oct 29 (Reuters) - A terminal for oil productscould be set up in Brisbane in Australia, a government officialsaid on Tuesday, as the country readies for a slump in itsrefining capacity and a surge in fuel imports.
Australia's refining capacity is set to decline by at leasta quarter from current levels by 2015 as refiners there grapplewith ageing equipment, cheaper imports and high costs, leadingto closures, and restructurings.
"We have in fact had an approach in the last two or three weeks from a major corporation I can't name to set up aterminal in Brisbane," said Mark McArdle, energy minister ofQueensland state of which Brisbane is the capital.
McArdle was responding to questions from Reuters on thesidelines of a conference in Singapore on how Australia wascoping with its heavier reliance on oil product imports. Hedeclined to provide details.
One refinery in Australia has shut, while another will beclosed in 2014.
Caltex Australia announced in 2012 that it willshut its loss-making 124,500 barrel-per-day (bpd) Kurnell oilrefinery in Sydney in the second half of 2014. The facility will be converted into an import terminal.
Royal Dutch Shell has already closed its 79,000 bpd Clyderefinery near Sydney and has turned it into a fuel terminal.
Shell has also put its Geelong refinery in Victoria statefor sale.
It was more cost-effective for Australia to turn to oilproducts imports given the economies of scales the Asianrefineries have, McArdle said.
The idea of building a terminal in Brisbane is still in theearly stages but both parties are showing keen interest in it,he added.
For Brisbane, the terminal won't be only about boostingemployment, the minister said. "It also diversifies the economyand perhaps potentially fills a gap in the market cycle."
Australia's total refining capacity will fall by 25.5percent to 593,000 bpd by 2015 after the closures of Clyde and Kurnell.
Besides Caltex's Lytton refinery, Queensland has a secondone, operated by BP Plc in Bulwer.
"We have no indications at all that they are going to shut down," said McArdle of the two Queensland refineries.
"We don't believe that they will, but again it depends uponhow the super corporations go in the Asian sector."
