The Queensland government wants the Commonwealth to fast-track environmental approvals to drill the Taroom Trough, west of Brisbane, in response to the fuel crisis.
Premier David Crisafulli says the central Queensland site poses a "generational opportunity", with pilot wells already producing about 200 barrels of oil a day, which is then converted to diesel.
But an energy expert on Thursday warned the trough was three kilometres underground, meaning it would require fracking to access.
Kevin Morrison of the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis said that made it a socially and politically difficult project to manage, as well as a technical and economic challenge.
"Fracking is quite a contentious issue in Australia, because of the amount of water used," he told AAP.
Mr Morrison said the project would likely need to extract water from the Great Artesian Basin, creating conflict with the agricultural sector.
He predicted it could take a decade for the Taroom Trough to produce oil at commercial scale.
"It would have to be under a blue-sky scenario to get anything below five years," he said.
"You're really looking at between seven to 10 years."
He dismissed Mr Crisafulli's claim the site provided a generational opportunity to ensure Australia was not left at the end of a global supply chain as a "bit of hyperbole".
"To go from hardly producing any oil to being fully covered by a speculative venture in Queensland, that's quite a large statement to make," he said.
Meanwhile, a former BP Australia president said drilling for oil would "pour more fuel on the fire" of global warming.
Greg Bourne - now with the Climate Council - told AAP the prospect of ongoing conflict in the Middle East, where most oil was produced, highlighted the need to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.
"We are going to see a massive investment on a worldwide basis on further electrification, including PVs, batteries, EVs - that is the way the smart money is going to go," he said.
"Opening up a new oil field is not the way, as a world, we need to go. We would just be pouring more fuel on the fire."
Mr Bourne said it would take a long time to develop the project.
"To think that you can drill in the Taroom basin and make any difference at the bowser in 10 years is ridiculous," he said.
"We should be investing in the future, not the past."
Mr Crisafulli has called on the federal government to fast-track approval for the project in the national interest, in an attempt to bypass the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
However, the Act - which was reformed in December - does not allow exceptions for fossil fuel projects.
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