Newcomer OGT Energy is on a roll in the Taroom Trough, with the discovery of dark oil suited to diesel production and its selection as the successful tenderer for prospective new ground.

The company acquired its tenements, broadly known as the Silver Springs project, from AGL in March 2025.

OGT Energy chief executive officer Lucy Snelling said the oil discovery was surprising, coming in wells just hundreds of metres away from two wells drilled in the 1990s that were continuing to produce gas and condensate.

“We were assuming we would get exactly the same product …,” she said.

“And, certainly, we drilled them differently – we drilled long horizontal wells into this formation – and we completed them differently, but we didn’t expect to get a different result.”

As well as gas and condensate, one new OGT well on the Taroom Trough’s western flank produced API 41 rated oil and the other API 45. As the company stated in a social media post; ‘It’s basically raw diesel.’

The new wells came into production in August at a rate of about 500 barrels of oil a day.

Ms Snelling expects to be producing between 500 and 1000 barrels a day once supporting logistics are in place.

The oil OGT has discovered in the Taroom Trough is a heavier crude, making it more useful for diesel production than lighter crudes, which require a more involved and energy-intensive process to refine into diesel.

Last week the State Government announced that it had awarded a joint venture of OGT and Denison Gas an exploration block south-east of Surat (PLR2026-1-8).

The acreage is prospective for gas, liquids and oil and adjoins OGT Energy’s gas processing and pipeline infrastructure on the western flank of the Taroom Trough.

“For OGT, this acreage is a logical extension of what we are already doing in the region and, with Denison, provides an opportunity to unlock the next generation of Queensland gas and liquids resources,” Ms Snelling said.

Denison will lead exploration on the block and said the joint venture planned to move quickly into drilling and seismic acquisition to target prospective conventional and tight sandstone gas resources. 

“Denison has consistently found ways to bring more gas resources to market and we’re excited to bring our innovative approach to the Taroom Trough,” Denison executive chairman Dr Xingjin Wang said.

“Combined with OGT’s infrastructure and production expertise, this joint venture has the capability to move quickly from exploration success to new supply for the east coast of Australia.”

OGT’s Silver Springs project is centred on three core tenements encompassing the Churchie, Silver Springs and Waggamba gas fields. The acquisition included the Silver Springs and Churchie gas processing facilities and Wallumbilla LPG plant.