Australia has confirmed its commitment to liquified natural gas and a net-zero future. Resources Minister Madeliene King has publicly stated that the LNG sector is a crucial player in Australia’s future.
Not only does LNG provide valuable export earnings for Australia, but it is also a driver of highly skilled jobs.
Australia’s Liquified Natural Gas earnings have been forecast to rise from A$70-billion in 2021/22 to A$90-billion in 2022/23. This is driven primarily but rising global energy prices.
“Australia’s large upcoming offshore developments, including the Scarborough, Dorado, Crux and Browse projects, represent an investment of over A$50-billion. Developing large offshore gas resources will ensure that the Australian LNG industry can maintain production.
“In doing so, it will remain globally competitive and continue to generate valuable export earnings for Australia.
“Our commitment to the sector is steadfast. Our position is that oil and gas projects can proceed if proponents are able to fund them and they pass the required environmental approvals, including on emissions,” King said.
LNG was also noted as a favoured alternative to other fossil fuels to boost the reliability of an electricity grid increasingly powered by renewables.
“Natural gas will be a critical fuel in the decarbonisation of Australia’s economy. Gas provides a reliable, cost-effective energy source for peak winter heating, seasonal storage and high temperature heat for industry.
“It can also ensure long term energy security for Australian households and industry as well as our core trading partners.
“Australian LNG will have a key role to support the decarbonisation ambitions of our trading partners, particularly in north Asia. Our north Asian trading partners invest in our gasfields to help them navigate away from coal power generation, through gas and eventually to hydrogen and other cleaner energy sources.”
Reports have highlighted that a total of around 500 million tonnes of carbon dioxide have been saved by switching from coal to gas. This is the equivalent to putting an extra 200 million electric vehicles’ running on zero-carbon electricity on the road over the same period.
“An Australian resources sector that is reducing emissions will be well placed to export ‘premium’ products that are low emission and environmentally responsible,” King added.
“Australia is leading the way with carbon neutral liquefied natural gas cargoes being shipped from Australian LNG projects to our trading partners. Carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) presents an opportunity to decarbonise Australia’s energy exports, particularly gas processing, LNG activities and potentially hydrogen.
“At the same time, it can help us achieve our climate change mitigation objectives.”
This article is sourced from Mining Weekly.
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