![\"Matt](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/4c6c415aa4c25cb22dee91beaa9ff9de97bbc568.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
March 31, 2026 \u2014 7:51pm<\/p>\n
Save<\/p>\n
You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n
Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n Save this article for later<\/p>\n Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime.<\/p>\n Got it<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n An energy expert has poured cold water on debate about a revived Queensland oil industry, driven by government rhetoric around new exploration at a time of heightened public concern for rising fuel prices.<\/p>\n The Crisafulli government announced permits to explore for oil and gas in the Taroom Trough in the state\u2019s south in February<\/a>, in what it has said could be Australia\u2019s first significant new oil province in 50 years.<\/p>\n Since, government figures have spoken about analysis of the scale of the available oil<\/a> by the end of the year, and deliveries to refineries by 2028 \u2013 even a willingness to consider construction of a new oil refinery<\/a> if needed<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe must promise ourselves as a nation, never again will we be vulnerable entirely to foreign markets and foreign conflicts, ensuring our energy security,\u201d Premier David Crisafulli told a Sunday meeting of the LNP state council.<\/p>\n In a media conference on Tuesday, Opposition Leader Steven Miles called on the government to ensure that \u201cany oil produced in the Taroom Trough is reserved for Queenslanders\u201d.<\/p>\n Related Article \u201cThe fact is, if these Queensland reserves are simply put into the global market, then they\u2019ll do nothing to address price crises like the one we\u2019re experiencing at the moment, and do nothing to provide additional fuel security,\u201d Miles said.<\/p>\n Grattan Institute energy and climate change program director Alison Reeve told this masthead that any such refinery would come with a price tag of between $5 billion and $15 billion.<\/p>\n Reeve added if a new refinery was built, there is no certainty there would be enough oil available in the country \u2013 let alone the state \u2013 at current usage levels for whoever built it to recoup the cost.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got roughly eight to 10 years\u2019 worth of oil. We\u2019ve got some shale oil, but we don\u2019t know, like, what quality it is, how of it much there is, how easy it is to get. If you added that in, that\u2019d give us another 35 years,\u201d Reeve said.<\/p>\n Related Article She noted that refineries are also often either built in two ways. One is to cater to the quality of oil from specific locations \u2013 which Australia\u2019s two remaining sites were until such reserves largely dried up, leaving them to refine imported oil.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, much of the oil Australia does still produce is exported to places like Singapore for refining in sites which operate in the second way. They have large enough capacity they can essentially blend different imported oils together to a consistent quality for processing into fuels.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd so why don\u2019t you import the fuel \u2013 let someone else do the refining step,\u201d Reeve said.<\/p>\n She said it essentially came down to a question of \u201chow much do we want to spend on insurance\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd, I mean, the thing with insurance is you usually find out that your willingness to pay kind of goes up when you\u2019re in an emergency.<\/p>\n \u201cThe question that they [the government] should be asking themselves, is, if we are going to spend, I don\u2019t know, pick a number, a billion dollars on fuel security, where do we get the most bang for buck by doing that \u2013 not how do we spend a billion dollars on an oil refinery.\u201d<\/p>\n On whether any such oil could also be reserved for Queenslanders alone, Reeve said that in a situation of any kind of national importance the state would \u201cprobably have to secede from the Commonwealth or something before you get away with that\u201d.<\/p>\n Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Ampol\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/d569ba3bc582d707ab4fabbdc7d5d93b9817add1.jpeg\")
Ampol\u2019s Lytton refinery on Brisbane\u2019s east is one of only two that remain operating in Australia.Glenn Campbell<\/p>\n![\"Queensland](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/9b1f0458d8288c40d3c0a7a789324cf942b3b283ef44934377f529e3a0054073.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Shell\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774973233_810_73f24c9ab5db6f96d00e95c5d179beb366c9dc8e.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Matt](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1766286373_104_4c6c415aa4c25cb22dee91beaa9ff9de97bbc568.png\")
Matt Dennien<\/a> is a reporter at Brisbane Times covering state politics and the public service. He has previously worked for newspapers in Tasmania and Brisbane community radio station 4ZZZ. Contact him securely on Signal @mattdennien.15Connect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"March 31, 2026 \u2014 7:51pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":576585,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[64,63,99,164],"class_list":["post-576584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=576584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/576585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=576584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=576584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=576584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}