WA could be home to the nation’s first new refinery since the 1960s. Will it really help our energy security?

July 28, 2026 — 2:56pmAustralia’s first new oil refinery since the 1960s would be built in WA under plans announced by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Premier Roger Cook on Tuesday.The prime minister and premier travelled to the Pilbara for the announcement while visiting Perdaman’s $6.45 billion Project Ceres urea plant on the Burrup Peninsula, part of Murujuga, which was placed on the World Heritage List last year.Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the plans for the refinery on Tuesday.Josh ChadwickJoint state and federal funding of $4 million will go towards a pre-feasibility study and pre-front-end engineering design for the proposed large-scale fuel refinery.It is part of a $15 billion federal government package seeking to safeguard the nation’s fuel supply in the wake of the oil shock caused by the US war in Iran.Albanese said the longer the war in the Middle East carried on, “the greater the impact on Australia will be”.The US-led war on Iran, launched in February, has caused global oil prices to skyrocket after the effective closure of one of the world’s most important oil corridors.About one-fifth of the world’s oil transits through the Strait of Hormuz.Fuel supplies, refining capability and fertiliser have all been impacted by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.The prime minister has recently visited some of Australia’s regional partners such as Singapore to secure the nation’s fuel supply.The overwhelming majority of Australia’s fuel is imported and there is more in reserve than at the beginning of the war.The new refinery would be built and operated by Perdaman, a Perth-headquartered industrial company with interests in fertiliser, energy, pharmaceuticals and retail.It would be the first new large-scale petrol refinery built in Australia since the 1960s and would be the nation’s third refinery, alongside existing operations in Brisbane and Geelong.However, Resources Minister Madeleine King told ABC Radio National earlier on Tuesday that the refinery would still be reliant on imported crude oil.Perdaman chairman Vikas Rambal said the project would be a “game-changer for Australia’s fuel security and manufacturing future” and was a step towards rebuilding sovereign capability.Cook said many West Australians remained anxious about the state’s fuel security, and the government was doing what it could to support Perdaman’s efforts to rebuild the state’s capacity to produce and distribute its own fuel.However, WA Greens fossil fuels spokeswoman Sophie McNeill said the move was a step in the wrong direction.“There is no world where investing in new fossil fuel infrastructure that will take years to even build and begin production is a smart idea,” she said.“What our mining industry actually needs is a government who supports their transition off diesel, not locks them into its use for decades to come.“Fortescue has shown that heavy industry can decarbonise but the Cook Labor government has shown almost zero interest in supporting this and is way more committed to propping up fossil fuel companies than transitioning industry away from diesel.”Conservation Council of WA executive director Matt Roberts said the reliance on overseas oil negated the project’s “energy security” pitch.“The premier claims WA will be a renewable energy powerhouse, so he should be investing in technology that’s cleaner, cheaper and under our control, rather than an oil refinery which would still be heavily dependent on crude oil imports,” Roberts said.“Australians already subsidise the two oil refineries that operate in the country, so we’re spending taxpayer money on top of the cost for the refined product.”The prime minister’s visit to Murujuga – home to ancient, sacred rock art which sits alongside several major industrial operations – was also criticised on the back of the region’s World Heritage listing.McNeill said it was “shameful” that Albanese’s first visit to Murujuga since its World Heritage listing was to meet with Perdaman.Murujuga traditional custodian Raelene Cooper said the Perdaman fertiliser plant was allowed to destroy multiple sacred sites and its expansion had “trashed Murujuga’s World Heritage values”.Cooper linked the fallout from the plant’s expansion to a UNESCO complaint she filed earlier this month.“In a few weeks time my legal team will travel to Murujuga to begin preparing a United Nations Human Rights complaint including over the government’s support of the very company the prime minister and WA premier are flying in to pay homage to,” Cooper said.“I repeatedly invited the minister to come and see for himself how Australia’s world heritage is being destroyed by Perdaman and Woodside at Murujuga and every invitation was ignored while approvals for destruction were rubber-stamped.”From our partners