Oil
By international standards Queensland has no significant oil reserves. The first commercial production of oil in Australia began at Moonie in 1962. Further oil deposits were discovered in South West Queensland in the 1980s. Australia's largest onshore oil field is located at Jackson. An oil pipeline runs from Jackson to Brisbane. In 2003, the pipeline burst open at Lytton causing Queensland's largest-ever oil spill. Queensland has most of Australia's 30 billion barrels of known oil shale resources. In 2008, a 20 year moratorium on shale oil mining was enacted because of environmental concerns. The ban was lifted in early 2013, allowing commercial production to begin at a Queensland Energy Resources plant at Gladstone.
Caltex Australia owns the largest fuels refinery in Queensland, Lytton Refinery, which is located at Lytton. It began operations in 1965 and produces a range of petroleum products which meets more than half of the state's fuel needs. A second fuel refinery is located nearby at Bulwer Island and is owned by BP.
The Queensland Oil Vulnerability Taskforce was established by Peter Beattie in May 2005. The taskforce was led by the Member for Hervey Bay, Andrew McNamara, aiming to investigate supply constraints, rising prices and the impact of peak oil on Queenslanders. The taskforce produced the McNamara Report which concluded that the state was highly vulnerable to rising oil prices and that alternative energy sources could not be easily substituted. The key recommendation was for the Queensland Government to develop a mitigation strategy and action plan.
Read more about this topic: Energy In Queensland
Famous quotes containing the word oil:
“Is a park any better than a coal mine? What’s a mountain got that a slag pile hasn’t? What would you rather have in your garden—an almond tree or an oil well?”
—Jean Giraudoux (1882–1944)
“As a rule they will refuse even to sample a foreign dish, they regard such things as garlic and olive oil with disgust, life is unliveable to them unless they have tea and puddings.”
—George Orwell (1903–1950)
“Opinions are to the vast apparatus of social existence what oil is to machines: one does not go up to a turbine and pour machine oil over it; one applies a little to hidden spindles and joints that one has to know.”
—Walter Benjamin (1892–1940)