Article by Colin Packham, courtesy of The Australian.
There are no excuses for gas shortfalls in Australia and authorities must press ahead with unlocking the abundant reserves, a senior executive at Santos has declared.
The comments by Santos executive vice-president Vince Santostefano underscore the frustration within Australia’s gas industry towards successive governments and their unwillingness to address the threat of a looming shortfall.
In a speech to the Northern Territory Resources Conference in Darwin, Mr Santostefano said environmentalists had successfully demonised gas and that not only threatened Australia’s energy transition but its economic stability in the region.
“Australia is rich in gas resources and there is no excuse for gas shortages, domestically or for export,” Mr Santostefano said.
“There is a simple fix. Just like housing, the answer is to bring on more supply to meet market demand.”
The comments are the latest in a string of direct and increasingly pointed criticism of the federal government as the industry and authorities ratchet up warnings of a looming shortfall.
The Australian Energy Market Operator earlier this year said gas power generators may have to run on diesel in winter 2026 as traditional sources of supply to the region are depleted.
While measures could be taken to mitigate the impact, AEMO said the eastern seaboard faced a substantial shortfall in 2028 when supplies from ExxonMobil’s Bass Strait are projected to be exhausted.
The looming shortfall threatens to heighten pressure on households – even those that do not relay on gas.
Gas is used as a so-called peaker to power electricity production during times when there is an insufficient supply of coal or renewable energy, or when demand is elevated. If the price of gas rises, then household and business gas bills will rise, although the effect is unlikely to be immediate.
The warning has heightened pressure on the federal government. Publicly, senior ministers insist they value gas as a resource and highlight Labor’s recently released Future Gas Strategy, – which forecasts a future for the fuel source until at least 2050 – as indicative of the commitment.
But industry figures are sceptical, suggesting Labor is playing lip service to gas. It’s a perception further enhanced by a speech by given by Resources minister Madeleine King to a NT gas conference, during which she failed to mention the fuel source.
Instead, Ms King spruiked the prospects of critical minerals, reaffirming to some sceptics present at the conference that Labor did not support gas.
“If you can’t get up and talk about gas in a conference in the NT, which is one of the most supportive of the gas industry, then where will she?” one attendee said.
Another industry source said Ms King’s omission of mentioning gas was conspicuous, especially as critical mineral projects the government was aggressively touting would rely on gas to power the operations.
The gas industry has urged the government to publicly strengthen its public support for the fuel source despite an acceptance that gas was contentious. But facing an election within months, Labor appears wary of alienating voters with public endorsements.
