Economics: Declining refineries

It now seems likely that Australia will be one of the first (if not the first) major industrialised countries to close all of its oil refinery operations. An old and outdated refinery in Adelaide (Port Stanvac) closed in the 1990s. The two refineries in New South Wales (Shell at Clyde and Caltex's refinery at Kurnell) have closed in the past years, BP's Bulwer Island near Brisbane is slated to close and there are persistent rumours that the BP refinery at Kwinana in Western Australia will follow suit. This leaves the two refineries in Victoria (Viva Energy, formerly Shell, near Geelong, and ExxonMobil's refinery at Footscray in Melbourne) and Caltex's refinery at Lytton near Brisbane. Whether these refineries will survive their scheduled major shut-down and maintenance times over the next few years, when new capital is usually required for upgrades or replacing major equipment, is a moot point.