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The events of the past few weeks have brought Australia’s energy future into sharp focus – we won’t have one. Green enthusiasts who dominate the public debate have insisted that much of the east coast’s reliable power supply must cease operating by about the middle of next decade, but there may not be anything to put in its place. Those same activists insist that a vast network of renewable energy projects can take over the role of coal plants, ignoring considerable evidence that they cannot. However, state governments are relying on private investors to create this dense network, despite investment in the area having tanked. This heroic attempt at ruining Australia’s power supply is all the more remarkable for occurring during an international energy crisis and with the policymakers apparently oblivious to the notable failure of renewable energy to make much of a contribution to the overall energy supply, despite decades of investment.

Japan, which has sunk many tens of billions of dollars into projects here, is horrified by Australia’s suicidal madness. Its Prime Minister rushed here to ask Albanese to promise not to disrupt Japan’s supplies.

Mr Sugahara, who is chief executive and chairman of the Japanese trading giant’s Australian operations, is the first representative of a major Asian buyer of LNG to voice concern over the proposed changes. He has previously made clear that Japan will need a secure supply of LNG from Australia for decades to come, and also anticipates Australia will be a major source of supply of low-carbon ammonia, which is expected to be crucial for the decarbonisation of Japanese industry. “While I have no intention to intervene in domestic politics, I take the position that government intervention in markets can have unintended consequences,” he told The Australian Financial Review when asked about the ADGSM reforms. “From a Japanese corporate perspective, I am personally concerned that short-term interventions may jeopardise business practices which have been built over the long term.”

Senex chief executive Ian Davies, in a blunt submission to the government’s gas market consultation that closed last week, urged Labor to avoid crashing the industry as it scrambles to meet demand in coming years. “Senex’s EOI process demonstrates there is no market failure for gas supply from 2025 and therefore no case for heavy-handed and enduring market intervention,” he wrote.

STRIKE Energy has folded, accepting Hancock Energy’s competing cash offer for its 26% holding of Warrego Energy and jettisoning its own attempted all paper takeover of its West Erregulla gas field partner. The two have been competing for control of Warrego and its 50% share of the onshore Perth Basin field since November.

Gas producer Senex Energy has pulled about $200 million of purchase orders for its stalled Atlas project in Queensland, sources close to the company say, as evidence firms of investment drying up after last month’s gas market intervention by the Albanese government. The move by Senex, owned by South Korean steel giant Posco alongside Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Energy, comes as Cooper Energy put a proposed gas project under review off Victoria, citing the shock move to effectively regulate market prices on the east coast on an ongoing basis.

RECRUITMENT for more than 370 jobs, new investment and future contracts related to Queensland’s $1bn Atlas expansion project – aimed at boosting east coast supplies – will be put on ice until the outcome of the Albanese government’s consultation on its new gas price cap rules. Senex Energy, which is jointly owned by South Korean giant POSCO International and Gina Rinehart ’s Hancock group, announced the decision on its website, in response to the passing of the energy price relief bill earlier this month. New laws passed by the Albanese government “that could arbitrarily dictate investment returns” for gas producers puts its investment at risk and would result in less gas, electricity shortages, fewer jobs and weaker regional communities that rely on the resources sector, Senex warned.

Energy major Senex Energy has warned that the federal government’s cap on gas prices placed its A$1-billion expansion plans at risk. "While Senex supports measures to provide relief to Australian households and businesses from rising energy prices, this legislation goes much further and now challenges the commercial rationale for investing in future gas supply projects because the company can now be required to accept an arbitrary return determined by others, and after the investment is made.

Future gas and LNG projects valued at $32bn are under threat of having investment stalled or pulled under the Albanese government’s “hostile attitude to Australia’s resources sector” after the Gina Rinehart-backed Senex paused its $1bn Surat Basin expansion. Senex has left open the possibility of returning to the $1bn expansion if the federal government rethinks its gas industry plans. However, it has paused recruitment and spending on long lead items “pending the outcome of the Albanese government’s mandatory code of conduct consultation process” on February 7.