Page 11 - AsianOil Week 25a

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Sugimori said June’s gasoline demand Jet fuel, or kerosene, demand, on the other
was expected to recover to 90% of the level hand, continues to lag, with Sugimori noting
seen in June 2019, owing to the country’s that sales were still 30% of pre-COVID-19 levels.
gradual economic recovery. Gasoil demand, “Refiners are forced to make a difficult decision
meanwhile, is projected to reach 95% of last on how to cope with the demand recovery for
year’s level. gasoline and gasoil,” Sugimori said.™

OCEANIA

Australia deepens exploration support

POLICY THE Australian government has pledged to agency’s April forecast that a 6.7% contraction
more than double its original investment in the was likely.
Exploring for the Future (EFTF) programme, “Our resources sector has been the standout
which aims to promote the country’s upstream performer over the last few months, continuing
potential. to operate safely during these unprecedented
Australian Minister for Resources Keith Pitt times,” Pitt said.
said on June 23 that an additional AUD125mn Canberra has been pushing to increase Aus-
($85.8mn) would be invested to extend the Geo- tralia’s gas production in the hope of avoiding
science Australia programme four years beyond a supply shortfall predicted to arrive as early as
its original June 30 end-date. Moreover, the pro- 2023 and, more recently, as a means of reinvigor-
gramme’s scope will expand beyond northern ating the economy.
Australia to include the rest of the country. Energy Minister Angus Taylor said on May
The EFTF, which was launched in 2016 with 28 that the government “believes a gas-fired
AUD100mn ($68.6mn) of funding, uses “cut- recovery will drive jobs and economic growth”.
ting-edge techniques” to map geological struc- He called on local governments to support devel-
tures in heightened detail. opers willing to invest in projects that will exclu-
Pitt, noting that more than 80% of Australia sively supply the domestic market.
remained underexplored, said expanding the Welcoming the additional funding, Geosci-
EFTF would deliver immediate and long-term ence Australia chief executive James Johnson
benefits to more sectors than just resources. He said the first phase of ETTF had seen the release
noted, however, that investing in the resource of 200 datasets via an online portal.
industry would create jobs and thereby “help The government noted that an ACIL Allen
Australia recover from [the] impact of the [coro- analysis of three key EFTF activities had con-
navirus] COVID-19 pandemic”. cluded that the total potential economic benefits
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) from these activities could be worth between
has projected that the Australian economy will AUD446mn ($306.2mn) and AUD2.5bn
shrink by a 4.5% this year, an upgrade from the ($1.72bn).™

Week 25 25•June•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P11