Australia temporarily relaxes domestic fuel quality standards to deal with supply shortages.

The Australian government announced on the 12th that it will temporarily adjust the country's fuel quality standards in the next 60 days, allowing gasoline with higher sulfur content to enter the market to increase domestic fuel supply. Australian Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen said in a news release on the same day that this move will redirect some fuel that could have been exported to supply the domestic market, adding approximately 100 million liters of gasoline supply each month. Bowen stated that this additional supply will be prioritized for regions facing fuel shortages, as well as to support independent distributors and agricultural harvesting operations in wholesale markets. Many Australian experts and industry insiders have recently stated that the ongoing conflict in the Middle East leading to rising oil prices, shortages of supplies, and market fluctuations is impacting the Australian economy and people's livelihoods. Chief economist at the Australian Commonwealth Bank Joe Masterston commented that with the increasing pressure from the Middle East conflict on international oil prices and shipping costs, the impact of supply shortages and price increases on Australia will further escalate. Economists from the Australian Federal Bank stated on the 12th that due to the tensions in the Middle East, London Brent crude oil futures prices could soar to $120 to $150 per barrel. The bank's commodities strategist Vivek Dhar pointed out in a report on the same day that if the military conflict in the Middle East does not end soon, crude oil and refined product prices will "rise to unprecedented levels." On the 11th, 32 member countries of the International Energy Agency, including Australia, unanimously agreed to release 400 million barrels of strategic oil reserves to address the global oil supply tightness caused by a potential US military strike on Iran.