By Helen Clark

PERTH, March 5 (Reuters) - Australia's Queensland state has opened 12 new oil and gas areas for bidding across the Bowen/Surat and Cooper/Eromanga basins to shore up domestic supply, it said on Thursday.

“This release is part of a broader plan to ensure Queensland continues building its pipeline of petroleum, gas, coal and mineral projects, delivering long-term energy security and economic growth,” Queensland's Natural Resources and Mines Minister Dale Last said.

• The Queensland government said the total area spans 7,000 square km (2,700 square miles).

• In early February, the state government named Omega Oil and Gas OMA.AX, Drillsearch and U.S. multinational TriStar as preferred tenderers for a new area in the Taroom Trough, an unconventional gas area considered highly prospective for gas but also potentially oil.

• In January it also named Santos STO.AX and Drillsearch preferred bidders for three acreage packages.

• On Thursday, the government said it had also opened four coal areas for bidding and two vanadium areas.

• The government has mandated four of the 12 gas areas be reserved for domestic-only use, meaning they cannot supply any of the three liquefied natural gas consortia that operate out of Gladstone in the state.

• Australia is finalising a gas review to shore up tight domestic supply and will require all three east-coast LNG projects to reserve between 15% and 25% of gas for the domestic market.

• The nation has limited ability to plug LNG supply gaps left by lowered Qatari supply via spot cargoes. Qatar halted production and declared force majeure on shipments due to the conflict in the Middle East.

(Reporting by Helen Clark; Editing by Jamie Freed)

((helen.clark@thomsonreuters.com;))