Latest news with #SaulKavonic
Mint
3 days ago
- Business
- Mint
Australia's Gas Sector Scores Win in Wider Push to Ease Red Tape
(Bloomberg) -- Australia's natural gas sector secured a long-awaited regulatory victory with permission to extend the life of the nation's biggest export plant, but the industry is still grappling with policy uncertainty that it says hampers investment. The Woodside Energy Group Ltd.-operated North West Shelf project received provisional clearance on Wednesday to run to 2070 after a process that lasted more than six years. However, many other multibillion-dollar gas projects planned over the next decade are still waiting for approvals from state or federal government agencies. 'It's an encouraging early sign, but the industry wants to see more action on approval reform before their appetite returns to Australia,' said Saul Kavonic, an energy analyst at MST Marquee. 'Things that used to take months still take years.' Stricter policies and legal challenges from environmental and indigenous groups have held up Australian gas developments, which are a major contributor to the nation's status as one of the biggest per-capita polluters. Investment in gas exploration in Australia has grown by just 15% in the past five years, compared with almost 30% globally, industry consultant Wood Mackenzie said in a report this week. The nation's share in the investment portfolio of major international oil companies has fallen to 15% from more than 40% just over a decade ago, it said. ExxonMobil Corp. has paused investments in recent years due to the regulatory instability, Australia Chair Simon Younger said in Brisbane this week. Meanwhile, Chevron Corp.'s Australia President Balaji Krishnamurthy stressed the importance of consistent policies that can endure over time at the industry gathering. 'There is a bit of alphabet soup in the energy space, and if the government is wanting to simplify that and have sharper delineation of roles and responsibilities, I think that would be welcomed by the industry,' Woodside Chief Executive Officer Meg O'Neill said at the Australian Energy Producers Conference conference. The extension of North West Shelf will allow Woodside to seek sign-offs on Browse, an ambitious plan to send gas from massive offshore reserves to the liquefied natural gas plant. The company has amended that project, which is being assessed by Western Australia's Environmental Protection Agency, to limit its impact on a major reef system. The approval of the extension also comes in the same month Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's Labor Party was resoundingly reelected, defying some forecasts that he would need support from the Greens or climate-focused independents to form government. Albanese has said the nation will need more gas to support renewables and to help the country meet its net zero commitments. 'I think I can speak for all my colleagues in the industry, we're all ready to invest,' Kevin Gallagher, the CEO of gas producer Santos Ltd., said at the conference. 'If we get the policy certainty, the regulatory clarity and stability that we need, we're all ready to invest.' More stories like this are available on
Sky News AU
4 days ago
- Business
- Sky News AU
‘Already seven years late': Woodside's North West Shelf gas project given 40 more years by Labor
MST Financial Senior Energy Analyst Saul Kavonic claims Woodside's Energy North West Shelf gas project's extension is already 'seven years late'. Minister for Environment Murray Watt has approved a 40-year extension to Woodside's North West Shelf gas development in Western Australia. 'This approval was expected indeed, it was inevitable,' Mr Kavonic said. 'It was ultimately just delayed until after the election so that Labor didn't want to risk alienating any green-minded voters into the election. 'This really isn't a win for the economy or a win for the industry, because this is not an approval that should ever have been in jeopardy to begin with.'
News.com.au
4 days ago
- Business
- News.com.au
‘Already seven years late': Woodside's North West Shelf gas project given 40 more years by Labor
MST Financial Senior Energy Analyst Saul Kavonic claims Woodside's Energy North West Shelf gas project's extension is already 'seven years late'. Minister for Environment Murray Watt has approved a 40-year extension to Woodside's North West Shelf gas development in Western Australia. 'This approval was expected indeed, it was inevitable,' Mr Kavonic said. 'It was ultimately just delayed until after the election so that Labor didn't want to risk alienating any green-minded voters into the election. 'This really isn't a win for the economy or a win for the industry, because this is not an approval that should ever have been in jeopardy to begin with.'
Sky News AU
29-04-2025
- Business
- Sky News AU
Albanese and Bowen ‘know very little' about the Australian energy sector
Energy market analyst Saul Kavonic discusses the need for Australia to have a consistent power supply, saying Energy Minister Chris Bowen and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese 'know very little' about our energy sector. 'I think it's quite clear that most of the mob in parliament, in particular our energy minister and arguably our prime minister at this stage, know very little about our energy sector,' Mr Kavonic said. 'I think a very good example to look at is what happened in Germany here, where you actually had effectively an equivalent of a Greens minority government there, an actual minister was part of the Greens party, and the face of the shut off of Russian gas after the Ukraine war. 'They had a kind of internal schism and decided the Green party still couldn't bring themselves to actually support nuclear, so they supported more coal-fired generation. 'If you want to have a strong again, blue-collar workforce, manufacturing base of all the economic and national security benefits that provides, having strong, stable power supply with very low marginal cost is a critical component of that.'
