Petroleum in Australia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Australia is a minor petroleum producer and importer, with a number of petroleum companies involved in upstream and downstream operations. Western Australia is the largest contributor to Australia's production of most petroleum products.
Kerosene was used extensively in the mid-nineteenth century and early twentieth century as a fuel for lighting homes and streets. With the advent of the motor car, crude oil came into demand as a fuel. By 1911 petrol surpassed kerosene in sales as the fuel for most vehicles.[1][2]: 48
Most petroleum consumed in Australia was imported but, between 1865 and 1952, various companies made a small proportion locally, from oil shale.
Deposits of coorangite, a resilient rubber-like organic-rich sediment derived from lacustrine algae, found in the Coorong, were mistaken for oil seepages, and led to abortive attempts to find oil in the area. Australia's first oil rig was erected there in 1866.[3]
Between the 1920s and 1950s, Shell and the Vacuum Oil Company were selling petrol through single-brand service stations while Golden Fleece, Independent Oil Industry and Commonwealth Oil Refineries operated through multiple-brand stations.[4] In 1936, William Walkley founded the Australian Motorists Petrol Company Limited (later Ampol) in response to Australians' concerns about perceived inequitable petrol pricing, and allegations of transfer pricing by foreign oil companies to limit their tax liabilities in Australia.[4]
The first oil discovery in Australia was made near Lakes Entrance, Victoria in 1924.[5] The West Australian Petroleum Pty Ltd (WAPET) joint venture discovered Australia's first flowing oil in November 1953, at Rough Range on the North West Cape.[6] WAPET later discovered in 1964 the first commercial natural gas field in Western Australia, at Dongara in the Perth Basin.[7]
In 1998, the Federal Government discontinued fuel price regulation. However, the Victorian and Western Australian state governments passed their own price control legislations in 2000.[8]
