Former Professor of Meteorology Dr Sushil K Sharma has warned that Fiji faces an urgent fuel security threat and must move now while global supply lines remain partially functional, after the Strait of Hormuz — a key conduit for the world’s oil — was reported closed since early this month. In a column for this newspaper, Dr Sharma warned Singapore-based suppliers that provide nearly all of Fiji’s imported fuels are under severe stress, and the country has only a narrow window to shore up supplies and prepare contingency plans.
Dr Sharma set out the immediate risks in stark terms: every litre of petrol, diesel, aviation fuel and heavy fuel oil used in Fiji is imported, and roughly 40 per cent of the nation’s electricity generation depends on diesel and heavy fuel oil. He noted that “every vehicle, fishing vessel and airline” relies on those imports, and that fuel infrastructure at Nadi — historically managed through the Joint User Hydrant Installation — is entirely dependent on uninterrupted supply chains. “The bulk petroleum storage at Vuda Point is Fiji’s only physical buffer,” he wrote, “and without a strategic reserve policy, that buffer represents only weeks of supply, not months — a dangerously thin margin when global supply chains are fracturing in real time.”
To buy Fiji time, Dr Sharma recommended a package of immediate steps he says are low-cost relative to the damage of inaction. He urged the Ministry of Economy to contact alternative fuel suppliers outside the Gulf supply chain without delay, suggesting the US Embassy in Suva could help facilitate engagement with Atlantic-basin energy suppliers. He also called for Vuda Point and Nadi storage tanks to be topped up to maximum capacity while supply lines remain at least partially functional.
Dr Sharma additionally advised the government to prepare a rationing framework and have it ready for rapid deployment, and said national carrier Fiji Airways must urgently confirm its jet fuel position and pursue forward-purchasing agreements through non-Gulf sources. Those measures are presented as preparatory: action now could prevent more acute shortages if disruption in the Gulf persists.
Looking beyond immediate moves, Dr Sharma stressed that no Pacific state currently maintains a meaningful strategic petroleum reserve. He proposed a regional approach using Australia and New Zealand — both Pacific Islands Forum members that hold IEA-compliant strategic reserves — as natural partners. His model calls for reserve oil to be held in Australian and New Zealand storage on a PIF cost-sharing basis, giving Pacific nations access to a buffer without each country incurring the expense of building large, individual storage facilities.
Dr Sharma concluded by urging regional coordination, calling for a Pacific Islands Forum emergency meeting “to place fuel security on its agenda now.” The column frames the situation as time-sensitive: with the Strait of Hormuz closed since early March and Singapore-based supply channels under stress, the options to increase physical stocks and secure alternative suppliers are narrowing. Government agencies and regional partners face a short window to act before disruptions translate into power outages, transport interruptions and wider economic impacts.
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