Latest news with #AustralianEnergyProducers
Epoch Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Epoch Times
Queensland Treasurer Declares Coal Plants ‘Will Remain Open' as Long as Economically Needed
Queensland LNP Treasurer David Janetzki has backed the continued use of coal in powering the state. The bold statement comes amid bids from energy industry stakeholders for less red tape and environmental restrictions to develop energy sources in Australia. '[Coal-fired power stations] will remain open as long as it is economically sensible and systematically needed, not [closed on] an arbitrary date to fill a headline for a day,' Janetzki told the Australian Energy Producers conference, in comments obtained by AAP. 'While electrification is a suitable alternative to some of the fuels we currently use, key industries such as heavy transport, mining, construction, shipping, agriculture, and aviation will be impossible to electrify.' The conference was held in Brisbane on May 27. A day later, the LNP Crisafulli government opened up nine sites for gas exploration and development, accepting tenders from May 29. Turbine Turnaround The comments from Janetzki come barely a day after Related Stories 5/23/2024 12/15/2023 The decision not to allow the 88-turbine wind farm to go ahead was based on submissions from the public, where 473 out of 550 did not support the plan going ahead. It was subsequently found the proposal did not meet the requirements of the government's new planning laws, which ensure renewable energy projects are assessed by the same approval processes for other resource projects. 'Queenslanders deserve to have a say on any major development in their local community, which is why our government introduced new nation-leading laws to give them a voice on issues that impact that future of their towns,' Minister for Infrastructure Jarrod Bleijie said in a statement. Calls for Less Restrictions on Traditional Energies During the conference, former Ambassador to the United States Joe Hockey and Woodside CEO Meg O'Neill also called for less restrictions on traditional energy sources. 'With the new federal parliament elected, it is an opportunity to finally cut red and green tape to simplify and streamline Australia's approval system,' O'Neill said, also urging support for mining exploration across Australia. Hockey, who appeared via tele-conference from Singapore, said Australia needed to identify more gas and oil opportunities. 'We need to get back to some basic principles that if you have less regulation, if you have less onerous taxes and less tax then you are more likely to grow your economy,' he said. On May 28, Environment Minister Murray Watt announced Woodside's plans for expanding the North West Shelf gas processing plant in Western Australia beyond 2030
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Environmentalists condemn ‘devastating' move to open nine new gas exploration areas in Queensland
The Queensland government has opened nine new areas for gas exploration across 16,000 sq kilometres in a step environmentalists say will only worsen the climate crisis. The state's natural resources minister, Dale Last, said the move would make Queensland more attractive for gas industry investment and would help bring down gas prices and ease the supply pressures on the east coast. The government said it was also starting a three-month review into the way exploration areas were identified and then released for tender, to make the process more efficient. Opened up for tender from tomorrow will be nine areas across the Cooper-Eromanga basin in the south-west and the Bowen-Surat basin in the state's centre. Land releases would not overlap with areas in the Channel Country region where flood plains and rivers have been protected from further oil and gas extraction. The areas open for tender from Thursday include conventional gas and places where more technically challenging reserves might require hydraulic fracturing. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Last said: 'The best way to bring down energy prices is to have more energy in the market, and that starts with exploration. 'These steps are about unlocking new supply, securing an investment pipeline and getting the right policy settings in place so Queensland can lead the way on energy security.' Gas industry group Australian Energy Producers said the move would be a 'critical step' in securing future gas supplies. Last week, the Crisafulli government rejected a proposal for a $1bn windfarm that would have provided enough clean power for about 260,000 homes. The government said its decision was based on a rejection of the proposal by 88% of residents and a local council. Dave Copeman, the director of the Queensland Conservation Council, said the announcement was 'devastating and deceitful'. He said: 'The government should be ashamed to look Queenslanders impacted by climate-fuelled disasters in the eye and pretend that they care while greenlighting new fossil fuel projects that will only turbocharge these impacts on our communities and country.' Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion He said federal data suggested there was enough gas in just the Bowen Basin to release more than 1bn tonnes of CO2 if it was all extracted and burned. 'That's more extra climate pollution than the total Queensland can release between now and 2035 if we are to meet our emissions reduction targets. And this is only one of the four basins mentioned in today's low detail announcement.' He questioned whether the gas would make it to the domestic market, as no company was planning to pipe gas south from the Bowen basin to Victoria. Ellen Roberts, the national coordinator for climate campaign group Lock the Gate, said the announcement 'will only benefit multinational gas companies, not the people of Queensland'. She said there were already 16,000 gas wells drilled in Queensland that put groundwater relied on by farmers and communities at risk. 'We need an urgent moratorium on the gas expansions in Queensland to prevent further damage to land, water and our climate,' she said.
Sydney Morning Herald
3 days ago
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
One of Australia's biggest energy company compares Victoria to North Korea
D'Ambrosio on Wednesday said a combination of lower demand and new gas investment – including a $350 million ExxonMobil and Woodside program to drill new wells in Bass Strait – had helped push out the market operator's forecast gas shortfall from 2028 to 2029. Loading The Victorian government had approved the only new application for a gas production permit it had received in the past 10 years, and was seeking to fast-track other approvals, she added. 'We've always said gas is part of our energy transition,' D'Ambrosio said. 'We're working to bring on more gas supply.' There are eight gas-exploration permits onshore in Victoria and three exploration permits in offshore Victorian waters. Speaking at the Australian Energy Producers (AEP) conference in Brisbane on Wednesday, Gallagher said ambiguity over state and federal environmental approvals processes made Australia one of the most difficult places to sanction new investments. 'We've got 100 years of gas under our feet,' he said. But only a 'fraction' of Australia's known prospective gas basins were presently in development, he said. Work ground to a halt at Santos's $5.8 billion Barossa gas project off the Northern Territory in 2023 after environmental lawyers secured last-minute legal orders to block the construction of a pipeline by arguing the company had not adequately consulted Tiwi Islander traditional owners – claims that were later dismissed. Loading Its controversial Narrabri gas project in northern NSW, which could deliver up to half of NSW's natural gas needs, has also run into years of delays amid legal appeals and objections from environmental activists, some landholders and the Gomeroi traditional owners, who fear the plans to drill 850 gas wells could inflict irreversible damage on their culture, lands and waters and worsen global warming. Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King this week put oil and gas executives on notice that the re-elected Albanese government will make them do more to avert local energy shortfalls. Speaking at the AEP conference on Tuesday, King said Australians were 'tired of seeing our vast gas resources exported overseas' while paying high prices at home. Some Australian LNG producers were 'doing the right thing' in ensuring the market had enough gas, added King, who pointed to agreements struck this year to divert an extra nine petajoules of gas to stave off a quarterly supply deficit. 'I thank them for that,' she said. 'But there remains a lot of work to do to ensure the domestic market remains well supplied.'
The Age
3 days ago
- Business
- The Age
One of Australia's biggest energy company compares Victoria to North Korea
D'Ambrosio on Wednesday said a combination of lower demand and new gas investment – including a $350 million ExxonMobil and Woodside program to drill new wells in Bass Strait – had helped push out the market operator's forecast gas shortfall from 2028 to 2029. Loading The Victorian government had approved the only new application for a gas production permit it had received in the past 10 years, and was seeking to fast-track other approvals, she added. 'We've always said gas is part of our energy transition,' D'Ambrosio said. 'We're working to bring on more gas supply.' There are eight gas-exploration permits onshore in Victoria and three exploration permits in offshore Victorian waters. Speaking at the Australian Energy Producers (AEP) conference in Brisbane on Wednesday, Gallagher said ambiguity over state and federal environmental approvals processes made Australia one of the most difficult places to sanction new investments. 'We've got 100 years of gas under our feet,' he said. But only a 'fraction' of Australia's known prospective gas basins were presently in development, he said. Work ground to a halt at Santos's $5.8 billion Barossa gas project off the Northern Territory in 2023 after environmental lawyers secured last-minute legal orders to block the construction of a pipeline by arguing the company had not adequately consulted Tiwi Islander traditional owners – claims that were later dismissed. Loading Its controversial Narrabri gas project in northern NSW, which could deliver up to half of NSW's natural gas needs, has also run into years of delays amid legal appeals and objections from environmental activists, some landholders and the Gomeroi traditional owners, who fear the plans to drill 850 gas wells could inflict irreversible damage on their culture, lands and waters and worsen global warming. Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King this week put oil and gas executives on notice that the re-elected Albanese government will make them do more to avert local energy shortfalls. Speaking at the AEP conference on Tuesday, King said Australians were 'tired of seeing our vast gas resources exported overseas' while paying high prices at home. Some Australian LNG producers were 'doing the right thing' in ensuring the market had enough gas, added King, who pointed to agreements struck this year to divert an extra nine petajoules of gas to stave off a quarterly supply deficit. 'I thank them for that,' she said. 'But there remains a lot of work to do to ensure the domestic market remains well supplied.'
The Age
4 days ago
- Business
- The Age
Spain's crippling blackout shows need for gas in a greener world: Woodside CEO
Australian oil and gas giant Woodside Energy has pointed to crippling blackouts that left millions without electricity across Europe last month as a 'forceful reminder' for the Albanese government to prioritise energy security alongside goals to switch to cleaner sources of power. While authorities are still searching for the cause of the unprecedented loss of power in Spain, Portugal and southern France on April 28, Woodside, the largest Australian gas producer, has seized on the consequences of the disruption to drive home the importance of ensuring reliable energy supplies. 'What we can see with certainty is that these events reinforce the need to focus on energy security and energy affordability as well as – and not instead of – emissions reduction,' Woodside chief Meg O'Neill will tell the Australian Energy Producers conference in Brisbane on Tuesday. 'When we lose sight of any one of these, all three are at risk.' As investigations continue, some analysts and commentators have raised questions about the Spanish grid's rapid shift to solar farms and wind turbines, which account for more than half of the country's electricity, and which can make it more challenging to balance fluctuations in supply and demand. Loading Rystad Energy analyst Pratheeksha Ramdas said: 'Spain's high renewable penetration exposed difficulties in balancing intermittent supply, while Portugal's complete reliance on imports underscored its lack of flexibility and energy storage.' Spain's grid operator, Red Electrica, and government leaders have denied any link to the expansion of wind and solar power. O'Neill's comments on the European blackouts come as Australian oil and gas executives seek to press the Albanese government to focus in its second term on making it cheaper and easier to drill for fossil fuels. Actions they are seeking include cuts to red tape, a simplification of environmental permitting and greater clarification on who must be consulted over offshore oil and gas projects to avoid ambiguity and 11th-hour lawsuits that force costly delays.
