On Sat. 27th June 2026 10 am the Australian Energy Minister gave his weekly update on fuel supplies to a small group of journos in front of his electoral office in Fairfield, Sydney. The Minister was proud to announce that stock is higher than before the Iran war.
But he was unprepared for 2 questions of one journo on the arrival details of EFA supported (extra) fuel orders and in particular whether tanker GRAND WINNER 5 was part of such orders. That vessel is stuck offshore Sydney for weeks on end. This website raised these questions in 2 separate posts. The Minister could not answer the questions.
Remember the Yes Minister series?
Bernard: “Prime Minister, you are deemed to have known, you are ultimately responsible”
Yes, Prime Minister – The need to know
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NX45hc0aZt0
Strait of Hormuz context
Chris Bowen’s press conference took place after some bad news from the Middle East. This again highlighted the importance and the requirement of continuing efforts to secure fuel supplies as well as the exact reporting so that the public knows where we are.
Drone Strike on Ever Lovely Exposes the Fiction of a Free Strait
25/6/26
At 1410 UTC on 25 June 2026, the Singapore-flagged containership Ever Lovely, operated by Taiwan’s Evergreen Marine Corporation, was struck on her starboard side by an unknown projectile as she exited the Strait of Hormuz along the southern corridor close to the Omani coast, approximately 7.5 nautical miles south-east of Dahit, Oman.
The self-proclaimed Persian Gulf Strait Authority, a body Tehran established specifically to manage traffic through the strait since the outbreak of hostilities in February, left little ambiguity about the political intent behind the attack, stating on X that vessels transiting outside routes it has designated “will not be covered by the guarantee of safe passage” and that “consequences arising from passage through unauthorised routes shall be the responsibility of the owner, operator, and vessel commander.” The message was unambiguous.
The southern route, promoted by the International Maritime Organization and the Sultanate of Oman as a mine-free passage along the Omani territorial coastline, is not recognised by Tehran as legitimate.
The timing was deliberate and the symbolism was brutal. The 25th of June is IMO’s Day of the Seafarer. IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez had launched the agency’s Strait of Hormuz Evacuation Framework just two days earlier, on June 23, a voluntary scheme developed in close cooperation with Oman, the United States, and coastal states to facilitate the orderly departure of the hundreds of vessels and approximately eleven thousand seafarers stranded in the Persian Gulf since Iran effectively closed the strait on March 4, following the US and Israeli strikes on Iran under Operation Epic Fury in late February.
The scheme offered two evacuation corridors: a northern route through waters adjacent to the Iranian coastline, under Tehran’s oversight, and the southern corridor in Omani waters with US monitoring. Dominguez made a point of publicly emphasising the Day of the Seafarer significance in his statement suspending the plan: “I have decided to temporarily pause its implementation in order to reconfirm that the necessary safety guarantees continue to be in place for the ships on our evacuation list and all those in the region.” The attack forced his hand.
https://gcaptain.com/drone-strike-on-ever-lovely-exposes-the-fiction-of-a-free-strait/
It is worthwhile reading the above article in full. Shipping expert Sal Mercogliano puts it all together:
U.S. Strikes Iran in Response to Attack on Commercial Vessel
TAMPA, Fla. — U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces conducted strikes against Iran, June 26, as a powerful response to yesterday’s attack on a commercial ship that was transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. aircraft struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations and coastal radar sites after Iran hit M/V Ever Lovely on June 25 with a one-way attack drone. The Singapore-flagged cargo ship was exiting the Strait of Hormuz along the Omani coast at the time of Iran’s attack.
6:36 AM · Jun 27, 2026
https://x.com/CENTCOM/status/2070607101207232829
IMO halts Strait of Hormuz exodus after Evergreen container ship attacked
Published 26 June 2026
The International Maritime Organization has put its plan to usher hundreds of ships through the Strait of Hormuz on hold after an attack on a container ship close to Oman.
https://www.tradewindsnews.com/containers/imo-halts-strait-of-hormuz-exodus-after-evergreen-container-ship-attacked/2-1-2009781
The 3 traffic separation schemes: EVER LOVELY was hit by the IRGC in the Omani scheme
https://understandingwar.org/research/middle-east/iran-update-special-report-june-26-2026/
Press Conference by the Australian Energy Minister
Let’s look at the most important points in the Energy Minister’s press event in front of his Fairfield Office. Graphs have been inserted to illustrate what the Minister has been saying.
Press conference at Fairfield West, New South Wales
27 June 2026
MINISTER FOR CLIMATE CHANGE AND ENERGY, CHRIS BOWEN: Well, good morning, everyone. Obviously, I’m very pleased to be providing a weekly fuel update for Australia. Australia has 44 days worth of petrol the same as last week, 37 days worth of diesel, and 29 days worth of jet fuel. These numbers are all more than we had on the day Iran was bombed. The diesel and jet fuel are down a little from last week but well within the range of good, solid supply. We have 48 ships on the water to Australia as we speak, and 3.6 billion litres of fuel locked in to be delivered to Australia over the next four weeks.
Fig 1: Saturday’s MSO update with data from 23/6/26
https://www.dcceew.gov.au/energy/security/australias-fuel-security/minimum-stockholding-obligation/statistics
Fig 2: Yes, Diesel stock 16.6% higher than beginning of March
Fig 3: 48 ships on the way compared to previous figures
Fig 4: Forward orders 3,600 ML but no details given by fuel type. Why not?
JOURNALIST: And just on fuel again, how many Export Finance Australia supported fuel orders have arrived in Australia since the EFA was given new powers in late March?
MINISTER BOWEN: We’ve ordered around 800 million litres of diesel, and several hundred million litres of jet fuel as well. Several have arrived. I don’t have the exact figure, but several have arrived others [inaudible].
Fig 5: “around 800 ML of diesel seems to be the total of 790 ML ordered”. Only one 100 ML order was confirmed to have arrived. The Minister needs to confirm this table
JOURNALIST: Can you clarify whether a tanker named the Grand Winner Five is sitting off Sydney’s coast is one of those extra orders? And why has it been stuck offshore for weeks?
Apparently, reference is made to:
23/6/26
The Odyssey of Panamax tanker GRAND WINNER 5 waiting for 3 weeks offshore Sydney
https://crudeoilpeak.info/the-odyssey-of-panamax-tanker-grand-winner-5-waiting-for-3-weeks-offshore-sydney
Fig 6: Screen shot from Marine traffic on the day of the Minister’s press conference
MINISTER BOWEN: I’m not aware of that particular tanker, but I do know we are dealing with strength because a lot of our storage is full. A lot of tankers are waiting for storage to become available, to come into to port the dock. I’m not sure if that’s the case for that particular ship. But that just shows how well Australia is dealing with this international crisis, that is not an uncommon event.
https://minister.dcceew.gov.au/bowen/transcripts/press-conference-fairfield-west-new-south-wales-4
Comment:
Yes, storage is full to such an extent that there is a lot of floating storage offshore (20-25%). But if the Minister had followed the advice in this article:
20/6/26
Albanese Government reluctant to make public the open order balance of EFA supported fuel orders
https://crudeoilpeak.info/albanese-government-reluctant-to-make-public-the-open-order-balance-of-efa-supported-fuel-orders
…he would have been better prepared for the journo’s question. If indeed GRAND WINNER 5 was an EFA supported order, the Minister could have answered that this information is “commercial in confidence”. Instead, he had to use an argument that tankers waiting for weeks is not uncommon. That of course is incorrect. Data on this website show it is possible that a tanker can wait for 1 week but not 3 weeks. That is highly unusual. Imagine this news spread to other ports in Korea, Singapore or elsewhere. Which company would send tankers down to Australia?
In the best-case scenario this tanker has mechanical problems and waits for repairs? In any case the Minister should have been informed by his department that there is a problem. Hopefully a solution can be found.
The root cause for the lack of onshore tank capacity in Sydney is the fateful decision of the Barry O’Farrell and Mike Baird governments to have approved the demolition of crude oil tanks in both Clyde and Kurnell instead of their conversion to fuel storage when the refineries were closed.
13/4/2011
Australia’s fuel import vulnerability increases as Sydney’s Clyde refinery is closing
http://crudeoilpeak.info/australias-fuel-import-vulnerability-increases-as-sydneys-clyde-refinery-is-closing
27/7/2012
After Sydney’s refinery closure: Caltex to import fuel from Chevron’s shrinking sales
http://crudeoilpeak.info/after-sydney-refinery-closure-caltex-to-import-fuel-from-chevrons-shrinking-sales
Conclusion
The Hormuz problem cannot be solved in the foreseeable future. The IRGC will harass shipping in clever “arrangements” in such a way that oil flows from the Middle East are lower than before the Iran war, thereby driving up oil prices. This means the oil market can only be balanced by demand destruction and withdrawals from inventories until operational minimum levels are reached. So the Australian government must maintain its efforts in securing fuel supplies. Given that Sydney’s tank capacity problems cannot be solved for several years to come, no projects should be started which increase fuel consumption
