Australia has joined an international fund providing insurance to pay for coastal spills by oil tankers.

Federal Infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese says membership of the International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund more than triples the amount of money available for clean-ups and compensation from $380 million to $1.4 billion.

About 200 oil tankers and chemical carriers navigate through environmentally sensitive parts of the Australian coast every year.

Mr Albanese says the decision to become part of the new fund “makes good on the Government’s promise to do more to protect our nation’s fragile environmental assets”.

Oil importers in 24 countries pay levies to fund the insurance scheme. Australian companies liable to make contributions will include refiners and some major resource companies.