SA energy boss touts gas ‘advantages’ of ‘world at war’
The boss of SA’s largest company insists Australia does not have a gas crisis, in a National Press Club address today.
Santos CEO Kevin Gallagher said Australia’s “enormous gas resources” was an advantage in a world “at war for energy security” in Canberra today.
Gallagher applied pressure to the burgeoning debate around a domestic gas reserve policy at his address to the National Press Club on Wednesday, saying “we just have to get more gas out of the ground”.
“We have more than 240,000 petajoules of demonstrated gas resources, enough gas to keep producing at today’s rate for domestic and export markets for almost 40 years,” Gallagher said.
“Australia does not have a gas shortage; it just needs to get more gas out of the ground.”
The boss of the Adelaide-headquartered oil and gas giant that employs more than 1000 locals, called this an “extraordinary comparative advantage in energy that few countries can match”.
He claimed conflict in the Middle East had “removed crude oil supply equivalent to seven to 10 per cent of global daily demand, more than any disruption since the 1970s”.
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“The world is at war for energy security, even in the places where the guns are silent,” Gallagher said.
“As the world enters a new era where energy security is inseparable from economic, social and regional security, unlocking the wealth of Australia’s energy resources continues to be our comparative advantage,” Gallagher said.
“Australia’s opportunity is to grasp this advantage with both hands to drive energy costs down, reinvigorate growth in Australian living standards and foster a stronger, more stable Indo-Pacific region.”
Gallagher, who began his career as a drilling engineer, has been at the helm of South Australia’ number one company in last year’s SA Business Index, for about a decade.
Today, he called for federal government policy to set the rules for gas companies sooner rather than later, before Santos and other gas producers spend more money on developing Beetaloo Basin gas.
Santos started drilling of its first appraisal well in the Beetaloo Basin in the Northern Territory on Tuesday.
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The company claims the Beetaloo resource, developed at scale, could create more than 6500 jobs in the NT and generate more than $9 billion in economic return for Australia over 25 years.
Gallagher told the Santos Annual General Meeting in Adelaide earlier this year that if fully developed, Beetaloo would “supply both domestic and LNG markets for decades”.
He said he has publicly supported domestic gas reservation since 2018, and “the time to put a reservation in place is now, before billions of dollars are invested”.
His speech comes as the federal government is expected to release a draft domestic gas reserve policy in the coming weeks after months of consultation.
The Albanese government’s proposal would require liquefied natural gas producers to supply the equivalent of 20 per cent of exports domestically.
But Gallagher argued against this “must sell” clause, which a coalition of unions including the Australian Workers Union has been pushing for.
“Australia cannot afford to retreat into resource nationalism – nor should it,” Gallagher said.
“Australia must meet this moment by developing more of its energy resources to re-create the domestic energy abundance of the past and to maintain its reputation as a reliable supplier for our energy import-dependent partners in Asia.”
Senator David Pocock and Resources Minister Madeline King will also give addresses to the National Press Club about gas and energy in the coming weeks.
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