The head of Royal Dutch Shell in Australia told the nation’s main energy conference that in the wake of the election result, which saw the conservative coalition returned to power, the industry had an opportunity to “plant the seeds of positive public debate” around energy.
Australia, whose LNG output will soon exceed 80 million tonnes per annum, is proposing other nations follow its initiative for industry-wide coordination of plant shut-downs and more sharing of infrastructure.
Australian energy executives have said at a conference in Adelaide that it would be more economic to ship natural gas as LNG from the West Coast to the East Coast rather than build a trans-Australia pipeline.
The Australian petroleum industry will gather for four days in Adelaide from May 14 for an annual conference attended by around 2,000 people as the nation prepares to become the world’s largest LNG exporter and political pressure continues over the future direction of energy policy.