Oil company wins tenders in Channel Country, vows to keep supply in Australia

Bridgeport Energy has been declared the preferred tenderer for an additional 270,000 hectares of land in Queensland's Channel Country, near the South Australian border. The company's chief executive, Christian Lange, has assured that any fossil fuels extracted from the new land will stay in Australia.

The allocated land is for exploration, and Bridgeport Energy already has around 90,000 hectares of "oil-producing acreage" in the Cooper-Eromanga basin. The company processes oil at Queensland's only inland oil refinery in Eromanga.

Working closely with landholders

Christian Lange emphasized the importance of collaboration with landholders, including graziers and traditional owners, before commencing exploration. "We need to be cognisant that our disturbance on that land is zero effectively by the time we pack up and leave," he said.

Concerns from agriculture-conservation alliance

The Western Rivers Alliance, a cooperative of graziers, traditional owners, and conservationists, has expressed concerns about the potential impact on the environment. Coordinator Riley Rocco stated that the alliance is "neutral" on mining outside the flood plains, but wants assurances that any industrial activity will be managed well outside the flood plain area.

"As a collective, our position is for the activity to stay off the flood plain, which this does achieve," Mr Rocco said. "But the activity could come quite close to the flood plain and obviously we are keen to make sure that any oil and gas or any industrial activity stays managed well outside of the flood plain in order to not have an adverse impact on those significant river and flood plain areas."

Environmental concerns and past incidents

The Queensland Department of Environment previously dealt with a major oil spill in the Channel Country in 2013, involving 250,000 litres of crude oil from a Santos-owned well.

Christian Lange assured that Bridgeport Energy will consider impacts on groundwater, fauna, flora, roads, and other "land disturbances" before new exploration begins. The company plans to use seismic waves to determine the presence of commercial oil or gas flows.

"I would anticipate that it's probably the best part of two years to obtain your authority to prospect, and then preparing to do seismic surveys, whether it's 2D, 3D or a combination of all those things," he said. "Within a couple years, we'd aim to drill the first well."

Government support and future plans

Queensland Resources Minister Dale Last stated that increasing the supply of fuels is the "only solution to bring down the cost of energy". The state government has awarded 12 sites for oil or gas exploration since 2025.