Woodside urges state to develop its own gas
WOODSIDE Energy has called for Victoria to develop its own sources of gas and back a mooted LNG import terminal at Geelong to help ease a supply crunch that has put the state on edge for the rest of winter.
Victorian Energy Minister Lily D’ambrosio on Wednesday called for the market operator to be given enforced powers to ensure enough gas was available for domestic users as a supply crunch worsens across the eastern states.
But Woodside, which has
exposure to Victoria’s offshore Bass Strait fields after its BHP merger, said the state needed to look at its own roadblocks and also back an LNG import terminal in Geelong.
“There are gas development opportunities in Victoria that have been impeded from progressing,” Woodside chief executive Meg O’neill said.
“The reality is the regulatory framework has impeded investors from progressing new gas developments on the east coast. It’s been very difficult.”
Woodside last year came up with a plan to supply the east coast with LNG from Western Australia for the first time. The memorandum of understanding would result in Woodside shipping LNG from WA to Viva Energy’s planned import terminal in Victoria’s Geelong.
Queensland LNG producers – led by Santos, Shell and Origin Energy – are all major domestic suppliers to the eastern states in addition to selling gas offshore to buyers in Asia.
However, the spotlight has again fallen on whether new restrictions should be enacted to ensure enough supply is available locally as the Albanese government reviews the gas export trigger and a potential domestic reservation scheme.
Critics of the Victorian government point to bans for onshore gas exploration in the state that have limited new sources of supply available for the market.
Woodside also canned a selldown of its stake in the Sangomar oil project in Senegal as it lifted revenue by 44 per cent in the second quarter of 2022 with production levels jumping after its merger with BHP’S petroleum arm.
Revenue rose to $Us3.4bn ($4.9bn) for the three months to June 30, up 44 per cent on the first quarter, while production soared 60 per cent to 33.8 million barrels of oil equivalent.