Australia has seven major operating oil refineries. While Australia has substantial crude oil production, Australian refineries only source a minority of their crude oil requirements from Australian fields.
This is partly because Australia crude oil is generally light and getting lighter. Some heavier crude oils are required to produce heavier products such as lubricating oils and bitumen, and as this occurs Australian refineries (which are in general not designed to process large quantities of the very light crudes), must resort to heavier crude imports.
The other significant reason is that overseas crude oils can be purchased at lower prices. This is a function of the value that all oil refineries place on each possible crude they can purchase. Every refinery has a different configuration of plant and equipment and depending upon the product demand in their particular market, particular refinery limitations, and the different product yields (petrol, diesel, kerosene) that are produced from each crude oil, they will each see slightly different value for every crude oil at a particular point in time. Australian refineries are no different and with the highly competitive Australian market under considerable financial pressure, refiners are always seeking ways of reducing costs, and finding cheaper crudes (or better value crudes) is one of these.
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