Queensland has named Bridgeport Energy preferred tenderer for an extra 270,000 hectares of oil and gas exploration land in the Channel Country, between Innamincka and Thargomindah on the South Australia-Queensland border. Chief executive Christian Lange said any fuel produced from the new acreage would stay in Australia, though production could take years to begin.
Bridgeport already holds about 90,000 hectares of oil-producing acreage in the Cooper-Eromanga basin and processes crude at Queensland’s only inland refinery, at Eromanga. Lange said it would take the best part of two years to obtain authority to prospect, after which the company would run 2D or 3D seismic surveys to test for commercial flows, with the aim of drilling a first well within a couple of years. He said effects on groundwater, plants, animals, roads and other land would be assessed before any work began, and that the company wanted to leave effectively no disturbance behind.
Other winners in the round included ASX-listed Vintage Energy, which was awarded 62,500 hectares in the Channel Country, and a consortium of four businesses that secured 30,600 hectares in the Taroom Trough. The state government has increased land releases to resource companies since 2025 and has awarded 12 oil or gas exploration sites in that time. Resources Minister Dale Last said increasing fuel supply was the “only solution to bring down the cost of energy”.
The Western Rivers Alliance, a group of graziers, traditional owners and conservationists, wants new oil and gas activity kept off the region’s flood plains, where fracking was banned two years ago. The newly allocated blocks lie outside the protected area, but parts are within 5 to 10 kilometres of its boundary. Coordinator Riley Rocco said the alliance is neutral on development outside the flood plains as long as it is well managed, but that industry must stay off the flood plain itself. Lange, whose company is a small-scale operator, said he wanted to work closely with graziers and traditional owners before exploration started.
Concerns about spills date back to May 2013, when a Santos-owned well in the Channel Country leaked about 250,000 litres of crude oil, which flowed for 2 kilometres before the leak was stopped. The Queensland Department of Environment did not prosecute Santos, but acknowledged at the time that the damage could have been severe had the leak happened during a flood.
