Barnett wrong on gas

Cheryl Cartwright, APIA CEO says WA Premier Colin Barnett is right that natural gas is Australia’s energy future, but is completely wrong to suggest that WA offshore gas will replace gas produced in Australia’s east – or that it would ever be transported around the coastline via ship.

The WA Government recently considered establishing an LNG receiving terminal in Perth but shelved the idea because of cost.

Not only would it be foolish on a cost basis – the very reason gas is the future of energy is because it will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. One LNG terminal produces 10 times more CO2 emissions than the whole of Australia’s gas pipeline infrastructure.

It is not clear why Premier Barnett would make such a misleading statement; he should focus on getting gas from the North West Shelf into his local market in WA rather than allowing the major international companies to export the product without consideration for domestic gas users.

The current gas retention policy in WA is virtually ineffective, although it does give the Government an opportunity to feign interest in increasing the state’s domestic gas supply.

LNG will never be a cheaper alternative than pipeline gas for Australia. Proof of this is the price of gas that has been liquefied for international transportation - $14 to $16 per gigajoule.  Domestic gas in WA, transported via pipeline, costs $6 to $8. While construction costs are comparable, continuing operating costs of a transmission pipeline are far less.

Premier Barnett clearly doesn’t understand this major industry in WA. Even if the Government wasted taxpayers’ funds on a new LNG terminal in Perth, there aren’t enough ships to move the gas.