The State Government has selected a joint venture led by Omega Oil & Gas as the preferred tenderer to advance a 1138sq km Taroom Trough tenement.

Adjoining Omega’s Canyon project area, PLR2026-1-10 expands the company’s operated acreage position in the emerging oil and gas province by 63 per cent to 2947sq km.

The joint venture comprises Omega Oil & Gas (45 per cent), Tri-Star (30 per cent) and Beach Energy (25 per cent).

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“The award of this highly prospective land release area is an important strategic outcome for our joint venture, providing us an additional opportunity to demonstrate the enormous resource potential of the Taroom Trough,” Omega Oil & Gas (ASX: OMA) chief executive officer and managing director Trevor Brown said.

“The award reinforces our conviction in the prospectivity of the eastern flank of the Taroom Trough and provides the JV with exposure to a large, prospective new acreage area in the southern Taroom Trough.

“The new land area materially expands Omega’s acreage footprint and combined with the results of our ongoing, extensive appraisal program, strengthens our ability to evaluate and develop the Taroom Trough at basin scale.

“Importantly, the Queensland Government has identified the Taroom Trough as a strategically important energy province by implementing the Taroom Trough Development Plan.

“Together with our current appraisal program and our expanded acreage position, this provides a strong foundation for working with the Queensland Government to bring a nationally significant, new domestic source of energy security to market as quickly as possible.”

Related: Omega kicks off Canyon-4 drilling

Natural Resources and Mines Minister Dale Last said the Crisafulli Government had been very vocal about unlocking new supply and releasing more acreage for exploration in the Taroom Trough. 

“We continue to take practical action to unlock the full potential of the Taroom Trough, with a whole-of-basin framework to support orderly, efficient and responsible development,” he said. 

“I look forward to announcing all successful tenderers as part of our most recent land release soon.”

The new land area is interpreted to contain the continuation of the eastern flank fairway and an extension of the six stacked Permian reservoir intervals identified across Omega’s existing acreage.

The naming of the joint venture as preferred tenderers comes after the State Government in February awarded exploration rights for a 750sq km Taroom Trough tenement to an Omega Oil and Gas-led joint venture including Tri-Star (operator) and Beach Energy. The site (PLR2025-1-9) is immediately north of tenure Omega was already working on.