Seven months after the lone service station in Trangie closed its doors, causing locals and businesses to drive to Narromine or Nevertire to fill up, fuel is flowing once again in the township.

The long awaited and much anticipated first stage of the multi-million-dollar Inland Petroleum redevelopment of the old Ampol site became operational late on the afternoon of Friday, June 30.

Temporary bowsers at the rear of the site are now providing access to diesel and unleaded fuel – and locals couldn’t be happier.

Inland Petroleum’s Owner and Principal, Paul McCallum, made the announcement last week.

“We’ve finally passed all the hurdles and Trangie’s open,” he said, inviting locals to visit the site to fuel up.

Mr McCallum personally stayed onsite that afternoon and again on Saturday and Sunday to help motorists navigate the electronic pre-payment system attached to the pumps and to iron out any start-up glitches.

Residents have expressed their thanks and relief.

“Don’t know how you didn’t give up with the hassles along the way. Thank you for hanging in there and persisting to get it operating,” wrote Beverley Artery on social media.

“Thanks for hanging in [there] with all the hoops you have had to jump through, we do appreciate you,” wrote café proprietor Julie Berry.

The temporary fuel bowsers have cost the independent central west fuel and lubricant supplier a whopping $350,000 to install. It is a fraction of what the company intends to spend to install a complete and fully operational service station on the Trangie site at an estimated cost of $3 million.

Max Hickey was one of the first locals to fuel up on Saturday morning, pleased that he would no longer have to travel to Narromine to do so.

“It’s been pretty painful having to travel to Narromine,” he said, indicating he would probably be visiting the Trangie bowsers every week. This sentiment was echoed by cotton industry employee Wayne “Better Known As Santa” McLennan. “It’s a pain in the a**e having to go to Narromine for fuel!” he declared.

 Paul McCallum (right) explains the pre-payment system to Amy Dugan.

Amy Dugan from Sydney, whose family lives in Trangie, stopped by to refuel on her way to the Duck Creek Races. She had been following the fuel saga from afar, informed of developments by her family.

“It’s great that this is open now,” she said.

Patty Mitchell was yet to visit the site when the Western Plains App spoke to her, but she was thrilled to hear the fuel was flowing again.

“I think it’s great. We’ve had to wait so long. Rome wasn’t built in a day, but knowing Paul [McCallum] as I do, he would finish what he started.”

Visiting from Sydney where fuel supplies are plentiful, Mrs Mitchell’s ten-year-old granddaughter, Billie Inglis, could not quite comprehend living in a town that had no fuel.

“It’s a bit bad. When tourists come there’s no fuel so they don’t stop and have to drive on to Narromine,” she said.

 Patty Mitchell and granddaughter Billie Inglis are pleased to know the fuel is flowing once again at Trangie.

The town has certainly felt the impact of tourists not stopping and locals doing their shopping while refuelling in other towns. Local retail assistant Nell Jones said she had lost hours over the past several months due to the impacts on her employer. Ms Jones was optimistic that the opening of the Inland Petroleum site would have a positive impact on local trade.

“Once people know how to get into [the site and and how it works,] things will start to pick up again.”

So many hurdles…

The “hurdles” that Inland Petroleum had to navigate just to get to this point are an understatement. The challenges facing the company in its quest to take over the site after Ampol ceased trading on December 4, 2022, have been nothing short of extraordinary. While the temporary site is now operational, there is a long way to go until the company’s dream to establish a fully operational service station and shop are realised.

A perfect storm of circumstances combined last year to create the unholy mess that that left the town without fuel for seven long months.

The melting pot of stakeholders involved in different ways included Narromine Shire Council, Transport for NSW (TFNSW), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC), UGL Regional Linx (UGL), outgoing provider Ampol, and incoming provider Inland Petroleum. Added to the pot were poor communication, bureaucratic site rehabilitation and development approval red-and-green-tape, agency restructures, changeovers in asset management, and political buck-passing.

Almost 18 months before the closure, moves were underway to transition the site, then an ARTC-asset, to new ownership.

This was impacted by a restructure within TFNSW and UGL assuming asset management of the site from John Holland (for ARTC) in early 2022.

The "old" site fronting the Mitchell Highway that awaits rehabilitation and remediation. One day there will be a new service station on this site thanks to Inland Petroleum.

The Narromine Shire Council has had three development applications (DA) before it in relation to the project – one for the temporary fuel pumping site which has just opened, one to take down the old service station site which needed extensive rehabilitation in line with state legislation to be able to transition to new ownership, and one for the new site to be built on the land by Inland Petroleum in the future.

When Narromine Mayor Cr Craig Davies spoke to this reporter last November about the issue, he indicated the DAs were impacted at that time by internal issues between UGL and Ampol. Those issues are still yet to be rectified, meaning further work on the fenced off part of the site adjacent to the Mitchell Highway cannot take place until that happens, according to Mr McCallum.

“I’m not in control of the decontamination or remediation of that property. Ampol is, and that has not moved forward. We can’t move forward with any new development on that property until Ampol vacates, and they are in dispute with TFNSW over the exit arrangement. I’m not involved with that process or privy to it,” he said.

Mr McCallum hopes that the Narromine Shire Council will allow Inland Petroleum to continue to operate in its current form while the other parties work through the issues. He also hopes that better relationships can be established between the stakeholders, moving forward.

Paul McCallum at the new bowser site at Trangie.

Mr McCallum gave the Western Plains App some insight into some of the ongoing challenges facing the company with this project.

With the street frontage to the Mitchell Highway forming part of the Ampol site fenced off and yet to be rehabilitated, entry to and exit from the temporary bowser site is currently via the truck park off Dandaloo Street. Signage will need to be erected on the Mitchell Highway to direct traffic to the bowsers at the rear of the site, which may not be immediately apparent to travellers. The temporary above-ground fuel storage tanks, purchased from Victoria, have also created some challenges.

“The regulatory environment is very onerous today. The fact the petrol storage is on-ground [and not underground] because it is temporary – that creates some fairly onerous responsibilities in terms of the hazardous zones,” Mr McCallum said.

The company will construct an office this week adjacent to the bowsers, specifically to bring staff on site to assist customers.

“We’re putting a small building in place so I can have some staff there from 9am to 3pm to help older people,” Mr McCallum said, buoyed by the positive responses received to the opening of the temporary site.

“The Trangie people have been very supportive.”

Thank you, Anthony

During the time that Trangie had no working service station, supporters like Anthony Lees ferried small amounts of fuel to the town on a regular basis to assist local residents.

Mr Lees personally delivered a staggering 1,500 litres of fuel to Trangie in jerrycans since December 4, 2022.

Anthony Lees delivered 1,500 litres of fuel to Trangie over seven months.

The 64-year-old Narromine “sparky” was “born and bred in Trangie” and knows almost everyone living there. His mission to help the townsfolk began when a local resident asked him to bring some fuel with him on a visit to the town.

“I went and filled up the jerrycan and took it out. I started advertising what I was doing and had a very good response,” he said.

Motivated by the need, his twice-weekly trips to Trangie in the months since have helped multiple people access unleaded and diesel fuel hauled from Narromine in jerrycans. Some people regularly seeking his assistance have included very elderly drivers on restricted licences which prevent them travelling long distances.

“These older people can’t drive to Narromine for their fuel,” he said.

Mr Lees said he was aware of other people also taking fuel to the town, but not advertising the fact.

Max Hickey (left) speaks with Paul McCallum about the new fuel facility at Trangie.

Apart from his regular trips, Mr Lees has also answered a few urgent calls for help, including one from a Mungeribar resident, midway between Trangie and Narromine, who ran out of fuel.

“The girls at Café 2823 gave him my number and I brought some out for him. He was just so happy to get fuel.” The café staff continued to pass on Mr Lees’ number to those in need.

With the pumps now operating at Trangie, Mr Lees’ mercy missions have come to an end, but he feels very satisfied with what he achieved and the friendships he developed along the way.

“I’m thankful for the chats, the coffees, smokos and apple pies [my regulars have given me],” he said.