The Australian Government’s Energy White Paper is welcome recognition of the nation’s oil and gas industry’s critical role in delivering economic growth and energy security at home and abroad, the Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association said.
The White Paper’s further commitment to market‑based energy policies rather than interventionist measures such as gas reservation highlights a renewed sense of optimism about resource opportunities, APPEA wrote in its comment of the white paper.
APPEA Acting Chief Executive Paul Fennelly said: “At a time when some interest groups are seeking a return to protectionism and a leg‑up from gas producers, a long‑term policy position rejecting gas reservation is an important signal to investors.”
Fennelly added that policies that enhance Australia’s attractiveness as a place to do business and encourage industry to increase domestic gas supplies can deliver another wave of prosperity in addition to the current $180 billion pipeline of investment in liquefied natural gas export projects.
The paper’s advocacy for establishing effective regulation that allows for the sensible, responsible and timely approval of resource projects is a step forward. But the industry maintains there is no need for an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission inquiry into a gas market that already works.
Such an inquiry would need to recognise the following factors:
APPEA also welcomes the Government’s continued commitment to the provision of high‑quality, pre-competitive geoscience information that makes a significant contribution to the science and knowledge base underpinning Australia’s successful resource industry.
Fennelly said, “Access to such information, combined with the long-standing and successful acreage release framework, has allowed Australia to become a reliable supplier of gas to both domestic and export markets.”
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Image: APPEA