News & Media

Australia’s most powerful energy producers have lashed spurious legal claims and environmental hold-ups, warning contracts needed to dodge a gas shortfall on the east coast are under threat due to delays developing more than $10bn in new projects.Queensland’s Senex Energy, half-owned by mining billionaire Gina Rinehart, said it may struggle to meet supply deals with ­EnergyAustralia, manufacturing giant BlueScope and building products maker CSR. Contracts with the big gas users from Senex’s Atlas expansion begin in 2026, but ongoing delays threaten the timetable. “It takes a very long time to get gas out of the ground from a standing start,” said Senex chief executive Ian Davies. The longer this drags on, the more those contracts are at risk.”

In a world that grows increasingly unstable and in which we, or more accurately our friends, are already fighting two wars, we will realise that we are indeed the lucky country, blessed with abundant resources which we must learn to mine and process ourselves. We will learn that the greatest threat to our future is not climate change but a climate of naivety.

One crisp winter morning in Sweden, a cute little girl named Greta woke up to a perfect world, one where there were no petroleum products ruining the earth.

WA’s domestic gas settings are a “live issue” for Premier Roger Cook, who wants to have a “conversation with industry” about changes to bring supply online quicker — including potentially lifting the onshore export ban. The Cook Government’s shift in approach on gas comes in the face of looming shortages that threaten to push up energy prices for families and businesses. While insisting there would be no change to the fundamental principle underpinning the State’s signature domestic reservation — that West Australians should benefit from WA gas — the Premier said it was “not a set and forget policy” and needed to evolve over time.

It’s a pre-Christmas surprise that will add even more stress to families struggling to balance the household budget The independent Australian Energy Market Operator says WA is likely to face a gas shortage next year, pushing prices higher amid an already crushing cost-of-living crisis . And the budget pain won’t only be felt through the household gas bill. The gas shortage will also affect manufacturers and businesses. That means it could cause the cost of just about everything to rise.

Australia will likely need gas for electricity, industry and exports for decades to come and politicians have been warned not to shut down technology options too early, new modelling reveals.“Preparing for only one pathway leaves Australia extremely vulnerable to developments that are outside Australia’s control,” the report says. “Should any energy pathway or technology face challenges in its deployment, it will be critical to have alternative energy sources in the mix to maintain energy security and affordability and to keep emissions reductions efforts on track.”

25 November 2023

As the minister overseeing the process, he has been unable to effect any real change in seven years, so there’s little confidence that change will happen quickly. According to the CCIWA, there are about $381 billion of investment projects in the pipeline that are yet to receive environmental approval that could create an estimated 106,000 jobs. Of those the CCIWA surveyed, 40 per cent were at risk of abandoning their project due to longer-than expected approval times. As outlined in the WA CCI’s Green Web report, businesses have described working with the State Environmental Protection Authority as “laborious and frustrating” with “ever-changing guidelines and shifting goal posts”. Currently, the normal expectation for a mine to come online is eight to 10 years, double traditional expectations of four to five years.

25 November 2023.

24 November 2023.