Visiting Broken Hill over the Anzac Day long weekend stimulates some interesting comparisons. Broken Hill, discovered in the 1880s, was one of the world’s great mineral discoveries and certainly one of Australia’s greatest. It was where BHP Billiton started and also played a major role in the growth of Rio Tinto, to name just two […]

Closure of Australian refineries does have implications for security of transport fuel supply.Yesterday BP announced the closure of Brisbane’s Bulwer Island refinery from 2015. The general commentary has been that this won’t affect Australian transport fuel security because most crude oil refined in Australia is imported. However the crude oil processed in Australian refineries is […]

How many places in the world have either a temporary or permanent ban on fracking? Surprisingly few. According to the March 2014 issue of the Journal of Petroleum Technology it is just: Quebec, Canada New York State Cuba Bulgaria Czech Republic France Germany Italy Netherlands Cantabria, Spain Fribourg, Switzerland Victoria, Australia If there are any […]

Trying to stop onshore gas development in NSW and Victoria is an environmental own goal. The main difference between power generation in Queensland on the one hand and NSW and Victoria on the other is greater use of gas in Queensland (18% in Queensland in 2012 compared with 6% in NSW and 3% in Victoria). […]

While there is no doubt that Australian wholesale gas prices are increasing significantly, particularly on the east coast, most gas is still being sold under historic contracts at relatively low prices. Based on gas prices realised by major producers on east and west coasts we estimate that the average Australian 2013 wholesale gas price was […]

Does Australia have the world’s highest gas prices? Well certainly not the highest wholesale gas prices. Average Australian prices in 2012 were in the middle of the pecking order. The download has the facts.

A local media article calling on the Kangaroo Island community to a rally on Sunday 22 December 2013 to oppose offshore oil and gas exploration over 100 km away, contained a number of significant inaccuracies and misrepresentations of the facts and science. http://thenorwoodresource.org.au/2013/12/22/is-ki-council-misinforming-the-ki-community-regarding-seismic-surveys/  

A recent speech to the Australian Senate by Senator Penny Wright about the impact of offshore seismic for oil and gas exploration contained material mistakes about matters of fact. http://thenorwoodresource.org.au/2013/12/20/did-sa-senator-penny-wright-misinform-parliament-and-the-community/

Concerns are often raised by environmentalists about the impact of offshore seismic surveys on whales and dolphins. However, according to John Hughes, an expert in this area, there is no evidence from over four decades of seismic surveys that whales and dolphins are adversely affected by seismic sounds. This is not surprising given that the […]

While Australian domestic gas contracts are increasingly being linked to oil, the global momentum is in the opposite direction. The US Department of Energy continues to approve LNG projects for export to non-FTA countries. By our count there are now 53 Mtpa of approvals in place, more than the industry generally expected. Companies were talking […]