Angus Taylor’s Texas Oil Plan Just Drove Us Back to Rationing – and We’re All Out of Fuel and Logic.
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.
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:
But the fuel was – and still is – stored overseas, under U.S. control, with no guaranteed release during a crisis.
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.”
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:
Australians panic-buy fuel. The government brings back a “classic” response.
To manage chaos, the government reintroduces odd/even rationing, used in:
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?”
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.
Aspect Status (June 2025) Notes:
Did COVID save this? Yes – 2020 demand collapse hid the policy’s fragility Lucky dodge, not smart planning.
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.
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.
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!!!!!!