Fundamental differences about property rights are emerging when debating whether farmers are at the wrong end of Australia’s expanding coal seam gas industry. Understandably, not everyone is happy that Queensland now has three LNG projects based on coal seam gas (CSG) under construction.  This became clear in Senate hearings last week when Nationals Senators, Barnaby […]

When we started work on Australian Coal Seam Gas 2011: From Well to Wharf, we had ten questions in mind. Here are the questions and our conclusions. You can read more about the report at: https://www.energyquest.com.au/insightsandanalysis.php?id=95 1. What is the outlook for the Australian CSG to LNG projects? With three of the four major projects […]

Recent results from Beach Energy and interest by ConocoPhillips are encouraging for Australian shale gas. The US Geological Service believes that Australia has at least 396 Tcf of technically recoverable shale gas, based on an assessment of the following basins: Cooper (85 Tcf), Maryborough (23 Tcf), Perth (59 Tcf) and Canning (229 Tcf). ConocoPhillips has […]

It’s good to see that the Productivity Commission has been asked to opine on fossil fuel taxes and subsidies. Many of the items claimed as fossil fuel subsidies by the Greens are rebates from fuel taxes but fuel taxes themselves are omitted from the calculations. According to the Henry Tax Review, Australia collects around $14 […]

Hot on the heals of Prelude, the Ichthys LNG project is heading for FID this year. The Australian Government has given environmental approval. On the marketing front, Inpex has said that Ichthys has a clear prospect of selling the entire 8.4 million tonne capacity of the project, with agreements with Chubu Power (0.49 mtpa), Toho […]

Platts reports that China and Russia continue to be far apart on the price of gas under any agreement for Russia to export gas to China. http://www.platts.com/RSSFeedDetailedNews/RSSFeed/NaturalGas/8024191 Russia is reported to want a price of US$350/1,000 cubic metres (US$9.90/mmbtu), with China offering US$235/1,000 cubic metres (US$6.65/mmbtu). Russia is selling Sakhalin LNG to China at a landed price […]

Shell has announced the go-ahead for the Prelude LNG project, the world’s first floating LNG project, to be developed some 200 km offshore northern Australia in the Browse Basin. The project will tap around 3 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Prelude field, which was discovered in 2007, and begin production in around 2016. […]

EnergyQuest will be at the annual conference of APPEA, the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association, in Perth 10-13 April. With 2700 registrations so far it looks like being a great event.

The Australian Conservation Foundation recently claimed (1 March 2011) that Australia spends $11 billion more encouraging pollution than cleaning it up. However many of the items claimed as subsidies are rebates from fuel taxes but fuel taxes themselves are omitted from the calculations. According to the Henry Tax Review, Australia collects around $14 billion per […]

Last week I chaired a presentation by Professor Barry Brook on Carbon Pricing and the Future of Energy. Notwithstanding the problems in Japan, Professor Brook presented a very well-argued case for nuclear as necessary for cutting greenhouse emissions. His presentation is well worth viewing and is available at: http://www.adelaiderotary.com.au/images/pdfs/bwb_Compatibility%20Model_R.pdf