Australia heading for shake-up

The Australian fuel industry is in for a big shake-up over the next decade, with multinational firms likely to close refineries and concentrate on importing, the head of Caltex Australia says. Caltex Australia Chief Executive Des King said the big global oil companies which refine in Australia, including BP and Shell, may follow the lead of Mobil, which closed its Adelaide refinery and scaled back its Melbourne operation. The big energy companies were losing interest in refining in countries like Australia and were diverting capital elsewhere, he said. (July 24, 2007)