Moronic is not a bad adjective to use…...

Moronic is not a bad adjective to use…

https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/30973026/labors-fracking-stance-moronic-giles/

and this just in… it’s paywalled but imagine should come through theage.com.au eventually…

http://www.copyright link/business/energy/jemena-concerned-labor-gas-policy-is-spooking-negi-customers-20160228-gn5yjq


Chinese-controlled pipeline owner Jemena has warned that the Northern Territory Labor Party support for a moratorium on fracking is creating uncertainty in the gas industry and may slow progress on its planned new $800 million pipeline link to Queensland, which may have to be reduced in size.

Speaking after the official opening of a $150 million expansion of a pipeline from Victoria to NSW, Jemena managing director Paul Adams said potential users of the North East Gas Interconnector risked being "spooked" by the opposition's stance on onshore gas, which was hindering efforts to sign up more customers.

"It's not going to stop the project but it will just slow things down," Mr Adams said in an interview from Michelago in southern NSW. "We'll get there in the end, it's just how long it will take us."

But the Labor policy on onshore gas is deterring explorers, and NT Chief Minister Adam Giles on Monday blamed it for the loss of 140 jobs at privately owned Pangaea Resources. The Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association's Northern Territory director Matthew Doman has said planned investment in the industry of more than $1 billion by 2020 could not proceed with a fracking ban in place.

"It creates uncertainty," Mr Adams said. "Uncertainty meas that some players will sit for a while and see what happens at an election or what happens in the market, so if they were going to do something they might hold off for a year and then make a call."

He said although a 14-inch-diameter pipeline was still the "base case" for the NEGI, a slightly smaller line with a 12-inch diameter that would transport less gas, could be built "in a worst-case scenario". Ideally, however, a larger line would be built to provide incentive for gas exploration and production in the NT.