① Earlier this month, the Australian Government released a long-term plan called the “Future Gas Strategy”, which emphasizes that natural gas will play an important role during the energy transition; ② CEO Woodside warned that if the government does not act, the east coast of Australia will face a gas shortage by 2028, and the west coast will face a shortage in 2030.
Financial Services Association, May 22 (Editor Xia Junxiong) On Tuesday (May 21) local time, Meg O'Neill, CEO of Australian energy giant Woodside (Woodside), warned that in the face of continued market turmoil due to global conflict, Australia may still face a new shortage of natural gas until 2030.
O'Neill is also president of the Australian Energy Producers Association, and she spoke at a local gas industry conference on Tuesday.
Earlier this month, the Australian Government released a long-term plan called the “Future Gas Strategy”, which emphasizes that natural gas will play an important role during the energy transition.
O'Neill said the Australian Energy Producers Association is happy to see the government's new strategy. But she warned at an industry conference that oil and gas markets are volatile due to the geographical conflict between Ukraine and the Middle East.
O'Neill said that if the government does not act, the east coast of Australia will face a gas shortage by 2028, and the west coast will face a shortage in 2030, which may increase market turmoil and drive up energy costs for households and businesses.
She added that the best solution to the gas shortage is always to increase supply.
Australia will continue to extract natural gas after 2050
However, the road map also shows that Australia will continue to extract natural gas beyond 2050. Australia previously set a goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2050, and the government has always emphasized that this goal has not changed.
As a fossil fuel, natural gas produces significantly less pollution and greenhouse gases during combustion than oil and coal, so it is widely regarded as a transition fuel for the transition to clean energy. However, according to environmental organizations, natural gas is still a highly polluting fossil fuel and cannot be compared to real clean energy.
Australia exports most of its natural gas, and the country was the second largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the world last year. According to data and analysis agency Kpler, Australia exported 80.9 million tons of LNG last year. Woodside is Australia's largest LNG exporter.
Natural gas is also an important pillar of Australia's economy. Foreign gas exports currently account for 14% of the country's export revenue.