Update from the Mobil Melbourne Terminal

In 2024, the Mobil Melbourne Terminal team continues its focus on supporting Victoria’s fuel supply and strengthening Australia’s fuel security. 

“Work is well underway to deliver additional fuel storage across the Melbourne terminal including at Gellibrand wharf, as well as the Altona site, to help Mobil meet the federal government’s Minimum Stockholding Obligation,” said Altona Terminal Manager, Rhys Kelly.

“We are now working to bring the Altona and Yarraville terminals together into one Melbourne Terminal, which will continue to be a major supplier of fuel for Victoria into the future.”

Significant progress is being made to transition to one Melbourne Terminal, as upgrade projects continue across both Altona and Yarraville terminals to implement the changes required to support this.

This includes the recent commissioning of a new control room at Yarraville, which means terminal operators are now closer to support services and other team members, improving collaboration and communication.

Yarraville Terminal Manager, Steven Flynn, said, “This is a significant step towards our ultimate goal of moving our terminal operations to one central control room across Mobil’s Altona and Yarraville sites as we continue our transition to one Melbourne Terminal.

 “The new location of the control room provides close integration with terminal management and support functions to bring everyone together into a winning competitive terminal team,” said Steven.

Over at Altona, we are preparing to demolish a fuel tank on the corner of Kororoit Creek and Millers Roads, as we have confirmed this tank is no longer required for ongoing operations, and you may notice some activity associated with this.

As part of our ongoing work to transition our Altona site to a world-class terminal, Mobil has now identified that the tanks in the South Crude Tank Farm are no longer required to support current terminal operations.

In line with this, Mobil has now ceased use of these tanks, and will prioritise work to empty and clean them, which should be completed by around the end of 2024, while we continue to evaluate options for future use of the Altona site.

Mobil continues to review future opportunities for the entire Altona site, including maintaining its role supplying around 40% of Victoria’s fuel as part of Melbourne’s largest fuel storage and distribution terminal.

To support this review, Mobil is completing a study to identify other potential uses for parts of the Altona site which are not currently required for fuel terminal operations.

The study may identify alternative opportunities for the site including, but not limited to, industrial and commercial sector use, aligned with planning policies and to maintain the appropriate buffer areas required for the ongoing operation of the Mobil fuels terminal.

For example, one opportunity already identified will see around 150 of ExxonMobil Australia’s team to relocate from a Melbourne office to Altona by early 2025, to better utilise existing office space at the site.

This will result in increased activity at the site and will provide a boost to the local economy.

The Melbourne Terminal team is focused on remaining a valued member of the local community, continuing to foster relationships with local community groups and schools, as well as continuing to be a responsible operator.

As part of this, we are proudly maintaining our support of projects run by local community groups. Most recently, we partnered with local football club Williamstown FC, supporting the Women’s VFL team to help build awareness of the women’s game in the community and the installation of new goal nets at the club’s home ground in Williamstown.

Melbourne Terminal team members attended the recent Williamstown FC Mother’s Day luncheon at Seaview Events Centre.

Mobil sponsored the event and the Williamstown FC Victorian Football League Men’s match that followed the luncheon was named the “Mobil round”.

The event, themed “Celebrating our mums, past and present”, featured a fantastic line-up of speakers including Motherless Daughters founder Danielle Snelling, VFL and VFLW players and their mums, Legacy Spirit Co-founders and Yarraville Terminal Manager, Steven Flynn.

In his speech, Steven said, “We’re thrilled to support a club that unites the Hobsons Bay community the way this footy club does, particularly in supporting the Women’s VFL team to help build awareness of the women’s game in the community and to encourage girls to get involved.”

Mobil is proud to continue our support of the Yarraville Community Centre’s Nourish Project in 2024, a program providing healthy cooked meals to local community members experiencing food insecurity.

The project was developed by Christine McCall, CEO of the Yarraville Community Centre (YCC), and her team, along with local neighbourhood houses, in response to increasing requests for food supplies in recent years.