Well well - ain't this an encouraging article posted in this morning's AFR.
https://www.copyright link/policy/energy-and-climate/we-will-need-new-sources-of-gas-20240508-p5gz05
We will need new sources of gas
Australia is committed to reaching net zero emissions by 2050, and we will need gas to get there.
Madeleine King Resources Minister
May 9, 2024 – 5.00am
A future made in Australia will need Australian gas. We will need affordable gas to support energy reliability for households and businesses as we move to a more renewable grid. We need gas to support Australian manufacturing and Australian industry, and tens of thousands of Australian jobs in the manufacturing sector.
Our region needs our gas to warm their homes and cook their meals. And to power the great cities of Asia. We need gas to help us achieve our commitment to net zero. Our trading partners depend on our gas to meet their commitments to net zero.
Australia will also need gas into the future, to firm renewables and ensure the reliability of the grid. We need to manage the emissions from gas, while ensuring affordability and reliability of energy as we undergo our energy transition and decarbonise our homes, businesses and industries.
That’s why Australia has developed a future gas strategy, to help governments, industry and the community plan for the coming decades and balance competing demands. The strategy lays down a number of core principles.
Australia is committed to reaching net zero emissions by 2050, and we will need gas to get there, which means we must manage the emissions from gas. And gas must remain affordable for Australian customers. To achieve this, we will need new sources of gas to meet long-term demand as existing fields deplete.
Our electricity markets must adapt to remain fit for purpose throughout the energy transformation, and we will assess so-called use it or lose it provisions for retention leases, to get the gas we have already discovered flowing sooner.
The future gas strategy is a result of extensive consultations and includes a detailed analysis of the future demand for gas. The findings are clear and based on facts and data, not ideology or wishful thinking.
Gas is needed out to 2050 and beyond, but its role is changing. The energy transformation will take time – it will take investment in renewables, new industry processes, new technologies.
Turning off gas overnight would do untold damage to our economy, impede efforts to get to net zero, and have a severe impact on our region, which is the fastest growing in the world. Pretending otherwise is counterproductive and won’t help Australia and our region get to net zero by 2050.
A future made in Australia needs affordable, reliable and clean energy. Australian gas is part of the future. Gas-powered electricity firms up renewable generation. This will help Australia achieve our target for 82 per cent renewables by 2030.
Our manufacturing sector needs gas for a range of industries, such as producing food, processing critical minerals, and to manufacture fertiliser, cement, glass and bricks.
Australia’s gas industry is one of our country’s great economic success stories. Since the 1980s, the industry has grown to supply around 20 per cent of the world’s gas, earning about $72 billion of export income for Australia’s economy in 2023-24. The industry creates highly paid and skilled jobs. It pays for roads, hospitals, schools and our security.
According to ACIL Allen, the industry supports more than 80,000 jobs, mostly in regional and remote areas, and provides energy to more than five million households.
Emissions from gas are being managed and reduced, primarily through Australia’s safeguard mechanism and fuel-switching.
But there is more to do. And the gas industry will do more.
Realising Australia’s geological storage potential is an important part of the future gas strategy. That’s why I will release more greenhouse gas acreage for carbon capture, use and storage.
The strategy also makes it clear that we can’t rely on past investments to get us through the next decades as existing fields deplete.
Australia will need continued investment to develop gas supplies to get us through the energy transition with thriving industries. That will mean a continued commitment to exploration, and an openness to the kinds of foreign investment that have helped build the industry into the powerhouse it is today.
Finally, the future gas strategy reaffirms a point I have made consistently. Australia is, and will remain, a reliable and trusted trade and investment partner. Our trade partners have made large investments over decades in Australia’s resources industry and are relying on Australian gas to transition their economies to net zero.
The future gas strategy also makes clear that Australian gas will continue to support our economy and our industries, and will help us win the new global competition for jobs and opportunities.
Madeleine King is federal Resources Minister and Minister for Northern Australia.
(20min delay)