① Earlier this month, the Australian government released a long-term plan called the "Future Gas Strategy", emphasizing the important role that natural gas will play during the energy transition period. ② Woodside CEO warned that the Australian East Coast will face a natural gas shortage by 2028 and the West Coast will face a shortage by 2030 if the government does not take action.
On Tuesday, May 21st, local time, Meg O'Neil, CEO of Australian energy giant Woodside, warned that under the current situation of global conflicts causing sustained market turbulence, Australia may still face new natural gas shortages before 2030.
O'Neil also serves as the Chairman of the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association and 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", emphasizing the important role that natural gas will play during the energy transition period.
O'Neil said that the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association welcomes the government's new strategy. However, she warned at the industry conference that oil and gas markets are volatile due to geopolitical conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.
O'Neil said that if the government does not take action, the East Coast of Australia will face a natural gas shortage by 2028 and the West Coast will face a shortage by 2030, which could increase market turbulence and drive up energy costs for households and businesses.
She added that the best solution to the natural gas shortage is to increase supply.
Australia will continue to extract natural gas after 2050.
However, the roadmap also shows that Australia will continue to extract natural gas after 2050. Australia previously established a goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2050, and the government has consistently 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 transitional fuel towards clean energy. However, in the eyes of environmental organizations, natural gas is still a highly polluting fossil fuel and cannot be compared with true clean energy.
Most of Australia's natural gas is exported, and the country was the second largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter in the world last year. Data and analysis firm Kpler's data shows that Australia exported 80.9 million tons of LNG last year. Woodside is the largest LNG exporter in Australia.
Natural gas is also an important economic pillar of Australia. Natural gas exports currently account for 14% of the country's export income.