The old friendship with Singapore that could keep New Zealand’s fuel flowing
Wednesday, 8 April 2026
New Zealand’s close relationship with Singapore has emerged as its best hope of getting through the fuel crisis - even as the crucial agreement that would guarantee us fuel remains unsigned.
Prime Minister Lawrence Wong travelled to Auckland last October to mark 60 years of diplomatic ties between both countries and launch a new agreement - the New Zealand-Singapore Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP).
The CSP focused on business and investment to help more New Zealand firms scale from Singapore into Asia but Wong’s visit also addressed supply chain resilience off the back of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Both leaders agreed they would not impose export restrictions on an agreed list of essential goods like fuel, medical and construction-related products in the Agreement on Trade in Essential Supplies (AOTES).
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The first-of-its-kind agreement acknowledged if there was another supply shock Singapore and New Zealand could rely on each other to access food, fuel and other essential supplies.
While the agreement isn’t yet inked its understood this wouldn’t stop both sides honouring the promises made in it.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon visited in 2024 and plans on returning in May to sign the AOTES. The Sydney Morning Herald has reported that Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will this week travel to Singapore to lock in fuel imports from the oil superpower.
He told reporters at a recent weekly post-Cabinet media conference he was in “constant communication” with Wong and others as the fuel crisis unfolded.
“In the case of a crisis we would provide Singapore with food, they would provide us with fuel and pharmaceuticals.
“We want to deepen up the relationship between New Zealand and Singapore quite a lot. We see Singapore, Australia and New Zealand as quite critical partners in this region.”
Major disruption to crude supply chains through the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz has already led to South Korea, our number one source of refined fuel, introducing some export restrictions.
New Zealand sources fuel from half a dozen countries but South Korea and Singapore are its major suppliers, making up 51% and 31% of refined fuel imports respectively.
Without our own oil refinery, we rely heavily on major Asian refining centres in these locations.
Rising anxiety about being at the bottom of the world is understandable, given New Zealand’s economy is so highly-dependent on imported fossil fuels.
But when times are tough you call on your friends and diplomatic ties with Singapore spanning more than half a century may just prove the lifeline New Zealand needs if supply chains dry up.
Old friends
To understand the friendship between New Zealand and Singapore you need to go back to the 1960s, when Singapore wasn’t the powerhouse it is today.
Expelled from Malaysia, Singapore became an independent state in 1965; its survival far from guaranteed.
Nicholas Khoo, associate professor in the University of Otago’s politics programme, grew up in the garden city and remembers seeing remnants of New Zealand’s long-standing support for Singapore in old Anzac barracks.
“It was very clear that New Zealand had a very close relationship with Singapore and that's because the Anzac forces were based in Singapore to deal with the communist threat in Southeast Asia during the 60s, 70s and 80s.
“New Zealand was one of those countries that was Singapore's friend at a time of great peril.”
Leader-to-leader relationships have thrived over the years; former Prime Ministers Norman Kirk and Robert Muldoon both enjoyed warm relations with former Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, who led the country for more than three decades.
One of New Zealand’s pre-eminent diplomats, Gerald Hensley, also became a close friend of Yew’s during his time as ambassador to Singapore in the 1970s.
These friendships have served as the foundation for a growing, two-way economic relationship.
Singapore imports more than 90% of its food for domestic consumption and is highly focused on its own supply chain resilience; developing strong food and primary production links with New Zealand as a result.
It’s now our fourth-largest trading partner by two-way trade and our seventh-largest export destination (NZ$2.4 billion in exports and NZ$8.1b in imports at September 2023)
New deals
Both small, island states, New Zealand and Singapore have naturally found more and more to do with each other over the years.
Khoo told The Post getting an agreement with a major trade hub months before the Iran war broke out was incredible timing, and well earned.
“This is gold for New Zealand. If we didn’t have this long-standing relationship I just don’t see how we could call upon Singapore to help us to access the world market.
“This is about investment in relationships bearing fruit at a difficult time and it took decades, from 1965 to now.”
He said keeping New Zealand receiving fuel in a major supply crisis would be a true test.
“This would be the test point. We’re having this major crisis the Middle East. It’s still to run its course, so we will see if it really gets nasty that the agreement will be tested.
“I don't fear that it will come short. I'm pretty confident that both sides will view this as an opportunity to kind of build a relationship. It’s during hard times that you find out who your friends are.”
A relationship that’s ‘never been stronger’
The coalition has heavily invested in strengthening ties with Singapore this term.
As well as the prime minister’s 2024 visit, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has had five face-to-face meetings with his Singapore counterpart, Vivan Balakrishnan, this term and two phone calls.
“Our diplomatic relationship with Singapore has never been stronger,” he told The Post.
But the best relationship in the world won’t help New Zealand if Singapore itself faces trouble getting crude oil in to refine, as Associate Energy Minister Shane Jones reminded reporters on Friday.
“We are painfully aware that Asian refineries have consistently drawn their feedstock from the Middle East.”