Strategic Genius
Angus Taylor’s Texas Oil Plan Just Drove Us Back to Rationing – and We’re All Out of Fuel and Logic.
🔥 Short Version: The Steak’s Burnt, The Tanks Are Empty
Angus Taylor’s 2020 decision to store Australia’s emergency oil 15,000 km away in the United States was pitched as visionary. In June 2025, with conflict flaring in the Middle East, prices soaring above $4.29/litre, and Australians queueing for fuel under odd/even number plate rules, that “vision” looks more like a mirage – with a side of charcoal.
“Wait… am I odd or even?” – every confused Australian driver, 2025.
🛢 The Big Texan Oil Backup
During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Taylor struck a deal with the Trump administration to lease space in the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). Australia purchased ~1.7 million barrels of crude, stored in salt caverns deep under Texas.
Officially, it:
- Helped us meet the IEA’s 90-day fuel reserve requirement (on paper),
- Took advantage of plummeting oil prices, and
- Generated glowing press releases.
But the fuel was – and still is – stored overseas, under U.S. control, with no guaranteed release during a crisis.
⚰️ Funeral for a Strategic Plan
Experts warned the plan lacked a legally binding mechanism. If conflict broke out and the U.S. prioritised its own needs (as it has in 1973, 2005, and 2022), Australia would be at the back of the queue for its own oil.
Taylor called it “strategic security”.
History may call it “chargrilled wishful thinking.”
🇮🇷 2025: Iran, Israel, and the Strait of No Return
In June 2025, following Israeli airstrikes on Iran and retaliatory threats, the Strait of Hormuz – which handles 20% of global oil – is under threat. Fuel tankers are rerouted. Spot prices surge.
Within days:
- Petrol hits $4.29/litre,
- Diesel delivery delays cripple logistics,
- Bowsers run dry from Perth to Parramatta.
Australians panic-buy fuel. The government brings back a “classic” response.
🚘 Back to the Future: Rationing by Number Plate
To manage chaos, the government reintroduces odd/even rationing, used in:
- 1973–74 (OPEC oil embargo)
- 1979 (Iranian revolution)
- 1981 (Iran–Iraq war)
Rules:
Odd rego plates = fuel on odd-numbered days.
Even plates = even-numbered days.
No plate? No petrol.
Personalised plates? Good luck.
📻 One boomer tells Gen Z, “We queued in ’73 with jerry cans.”
📱 A Gen Z replies, “Do crypto plates like ‘BYEFUEL’ count as even?”
🏗 Domestic Stocks: Still Not Enough
Back in 2020, Australia held less than 30 days of fuel.
In 2025, that’s risen to around 60 days – but it’s still under the IEA minimum. Expansions are underway, but far from finished. We are still dependent on imports, and that import chain is now throttled.
🔍 Forensic Summary
Aspect Status (June 2025) Notes:
- Australian-owned oil ~1.7 million barrels in U.S. SPR Controlled by the U.S. government
- Domestic stock ~60 days Still below IEA target of 90
- Access guarantee None No treaty, only informal cooperation
- Strategic fit Paper compliance, zero local resilience Now exposed by conflict & shipping chaos
Did COVID save this? Yes – 2020 demand collapse hid the policy’s fragility Lucky dodge, not smart planning.
🥩 Taylor’s Strategy: Now Extra Well Done
Amid this chaos, a smiling Angus Taylor appears on a fuel company billboard, cheerily declaring:
“It’s stored safely… in TEXAS!” while holding a blackened steak.
Meanwhile, our penguin commentator Ngarra-guyup-guyup mutters; “Strategic genius: when even the steak’s less burnt than the policy.”
Australians are queuing in their cars with ration tokens and calculators, trying to remember if 9 counts as odd, and if their novelty plate disqualifies them from filling up.
🧠 Final Word
Angus Taylor’s “masterstroke” was cheap, clever-looking, and politically useful. But when the pressure hit – militarily and logistically – the plan failed the only test that matters: will Australians have fuel when they need it?
And so, five years on, the nation’s fuel security plan looks a lot like Angus’s steak: blackened, brittle, and no longer edible.
🔗 References & Links
Australia–US Strategic Petroleum Reserve Agreement
Liquid Fuel Security Review – DCCEEW
Historical context – Australia’s fuel rationing
IEA 90-day fuel stock obligation
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And when the price of oil starts going up and up and…it’s quite easy to see the Mad Orange Emperor declaring it’s ‘merican fuel and taking it with no please or thank you. Then we can all say, “Well done Angus.” as he is tied to a stake surrounded by by piles of wood and made well done.
How can we stoop so low as to criticise poor old Angus.
He’s a bloody Rhodes Scholar for goodness sake!
Don’t you know that every drop of spittle that comes from his mouth is pure gold!!!!!!