from dls and bpt re cooper basin, page-5

Thanks again Speculator. And for those that are still not convinced (when will you be??), here are some comments from today's APPEA conference.


But in a market where prices act as signals to producers and consumers, rising prices would be an incentive for new producers to get busy producing. If gas prices are rising due to demand (internal and external) surely the answer is to produce more gas. More gas and lower gas prices mean lower power bills, a big cost advantage for industry, and plenty of jobs in the energy sector.
--Of course these are many of the talking points coming out of the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association conference in Brisbane this week. You’d expect the industry to talk its own book. But it’s a pretty good book for Australia.
--One speaker at the conference made the point that there wasn’t really a mining boom in Australia, there was a LNG boom. He referred to the fact that $200 billion of the resources investment in the last ten years was in seven separate LNG projects. In fact, of the 13 LNG plants in construction worldwide, seven are in Australia.
--That’s impressive, said none other than Fatih Birol, head of the International Energy Agency in Paris. Channelling his inner Phil Anderson, with optimism for the future, Birol said,

‘As somebody sitting in Paris and trying to have a global overview of energy markets, I can tell you the entire global energy industry sees this [a $200 billion investment boom] as a very impressive move. For me the golden age of gas is very likely, and a golden age of coal is also likely, which means it is a golden age of Australia.’

--Australia has an 18-month window to unlock another $100 billion in LNG investment, according to the industry. As is tradition, the industry blames unions for Australian labour costs, which are 30% higher than in North America. It also says productivity is lower in Australia.
--High costs, militant unions, green and red tape...these are all things you would expect the industry to say in order to maximise its bargaining position with the government. But at the end of the day, the investment will either happen or it won’t. When you have billions of dollars floating around on that many projects, there are going to be a lot of snouts bellying up to the trough for a bigger share.
--In Broken Hill, we made the point that Australia could have a second resources boom if it wanted. But it would have to be an energy boom, not an iron ore and coal boom.

The real "boom" is just starting!!!!