First Oil Flows From Queensland’s Taroom Trough as Government Fast-Tracks Development Plan

First Oil Flowing

Crude oil from the Taroom Trough is now reaching the domestic fuel supply, with Shell producing 200 barrels a day. The oil is being refined into diesel at IOR’s Eromanga refinery.

Premier David Crisafulli announced the milestone on 8 April 2026 in a joint statement with Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie and Natural Resources and Mines Minister Dale Last. The government has framed the Taroom Trough as Australia’s first oil field in 50 years.

Development Plan

The Queensland Government will prepare a new Taroom Trough Development Plan to streamline roads and trunk infrastructure across the basin. Bleijie has directed Coordinator-General Gerard Coggan to immediately prepare a Works Regulation for Governor-in-Council approval.

“Coordinated development in the Taroom Trough will increase domestic energy security, regional investment and job creation while providing certainty for approvals,” Bleijie said.

Coggan said the coordinated approach was an opportunity for all of Queensland. “I look forward to working with all stakeholders to facilitate the Taroom Trough Development Plan and working with State agencies and the Federal Government to streamline approvals,” he said.

Federal Fast-Track Push

The State Government is calling on the Albanese Government to recognise the Taroom Trough as a project of national interest and assess it under the National Interest Fast-Track Assessment Pathway. That would streamline approvals under the federal EPBC Act and remove duplication of work already done at state level.

Under 2025 reforms to the EPBC Act, fossil fuel projects are currently excluded from the pathway, meaning the request would require a federal carve-out.

“My message to the explorers is simple, I’ll sign, you drill,” Last said. “We’ll play our part, but we’re asking the Federal Government to play their part under the National Interest Fast-Track Assessment Pathway.”

Fuel Security Pitch

Crisafulli used the announcement to argue oil from the Taroom Trough was a hedge against global supply shocks. Australia imports most of its refined transport fuel.

“Unlocking the Taroom Trough is critical to locking in future national fuel security,” the Premier said. “Never again should we be left without the ability to generate domestic fuel supply, this is a generational opportunity to ensure we’re not left at the end of a global supply chain.”

He said domestic fuel mattered for “refuelling family cars, transporting food, and harvesting crops.”

Background

The Taroom Trough is a major depocentre within the Bowen Basin, with the new exploration block in the southern Taroom Trough near Miles, about 300 kilometres west of Brisbane. In February the State Government awarded the 750 square kilometre block to a joint venture led by Omega Oil and Gas, alongside Tri-Star Stonecroft and Drillsearch Energy.

Last said the project “could open up Australia’s first major oil province since the 1970s.”