MARTIN Ferguson, the Federal Resources Minister, claims Australia must maintain active levels of oil and gas exploration to reduce its reliance on offshore oil supplies.
In an address to the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA) conference, Ferguson said the nation could face a situation similar to the oil price volatility of 2008, when prices hit $US150 a barrel.
According to Ferguson, enormous growth in demand is forecast in the long term outlook for the oil and gas sector. For this reason, investment in exploration and production must continue through this downturn.
The Minister says the Federal Government will extend the offshore exploration Designated Frontier Areas incentive in the petroleum resource rent tax (PRRT) by one year, as announced in the budget.
This includes six new oil and gas exploration wells in offshore Western and South Australia.
Ferguson claims that the development of offshore petroleum should take precedence over any other resource.
The Pluto and Gorgon LNG projects in the Pilbara and the Ichthys project in Darwin are examples of massive developments across the country. There are also several coal seam methane-based LNG projects underway in Queensland.
The Minister says the Gorgon project will be the biggest carbon capture and storage (CCS) project ever undertaken in the world.
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