Article courtesy of the Canberra Times.
THE Queensland Resources Council has welcomed a plan by gas company Senex to invest $1 billion in new fields.
Mining magnate Gina Rinehart is partnering with South Korean steel giant POSCO, co-owners of Senex after a buyout this year, to expand gas in the Surat Basin.
The expansion “demonstrates the best path forward to shoring up Australia’s energy security”, the industry body’s chief executive Ian Macfarlane told reporters on Thursday.
The project could deliver more gas to customers on the east coast but the fields are also keenly eyed by North Asia trading partners, amid debate about high prices facing Australians as more gas gets shipped offshore.
Mr Macfarlane said Senex would be in a position to deliver a total of 60 petajoules (PJ) of gas each year to support demand from the east coast market, when the expansion of the Atlas and Roma North projects was complete.
Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association acting chief executive Damian Dwyer said it was a “massive” project, with 60 PJ equivalent to the electricity used by more than 2.7 million homes each year.
More secure gas had never been more critical following outages at major coal-fired power plants, coal supply-chain challenges and immense pressure on the global energy market from the war in Ukraine, he said.
Gas infrastructure and wells will be built in western Queensland over the next two years, delivering an estimated $200 million boost to regional businesses and local communities.
The investment is also forecast to create more than 200 construction jobs and 50 permanent roles.
Mr Macfarlane, a former federal Coalition industry minister, said gas would be increasingly important for Australia and its trading partners as economies worked towards net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.
Critics reject gas as a “transition fuel” and argue new gas fields will make climate change worse.
But the federal Labor government and opposition both back the sector as a key part of Australia’s energy future.
In a speech to business leaders in Queensland on Thursday, Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King called for more fields to be unlocked.
Mr Macfarlane said it was more important than ever that investors had the confidence to make a significant outlay on resources and energy projects.
