The Australian Energy Producers said the anticipated strong future LNG export earnings highlight the necessity for regulatory certainty in project approvals to encourage new gas supply investment.
According to the Resources and Energy Quarterly September 2023 report, LNG exports are expected to total $71 billion this fiscal year as resources exports come off record highs to total $400 billion.
In 2024-25, LNG exports were predicted to total $63 billion.
Australian Energy Producers Chief Executive Samantha McCulloch said these robust estimates highlight the importance of regulatory approval certainty for companies to invest in new gas supplies and secure future economic benefits for Australia.
“LNG exports worth $71 billion support thousands of jobs, flow through to Australian businesses via tens of billions in industry expenditure and deliver billions more to governments to help build hospitals and roads,” McCulloch stated.
However, she noted that the benefits result from a lengthy, high-risk, and capital-intensive process that requires regulatory certainty.
“Investment barriers – such as the growing uncertainty over vague regulations and the logjam of approvals with the national regulator – threaten this economic windfall for Australians,” she said.
She emphasised that Australia must ensure that approval is synonymous with approval to continue producing these results.
“Reforms are desperately needed so Australia can avoid recent cases in which approvals for two major projects – Woodside Energy’s $16.5 billion Scarborough development off Western Australia and Santos’ $5.8 billion Barossa project off the Northern Territory – were overturned,” she added.
According to McCulloch, global LNG markets are becoming more competitive, and Australia must take advantage of gas opportunities as Qatar and the United States boost output and solidify their market positions.
“Our LNG exports can also help importing nations lower emissions by switching to gas,” she said.
The REQ report predicts oil exports to reach $15 billion this financial year, up from $13 billion in 2022-23, and are predicted to reach $12 billion in 2024-25.
