{ National Energy Conference Review }
29.03.12
Coal, CSG, LNG, Natural Gas, Shale Oil, Geothermal, Wind, Solar and the lovely Carbon Tax! Name the energy concern and you can guarantee it was on the table for the National Energy Conference held in Brisbane yesterday. From the initial speaker, Rio Tinto MD – Bill Champion, it seemed as though we were following the future evolution of Australia’s energy provision.
Coal is very much the now and the immediate future for Australia both internally, firing a number of our power stations and more importantly driving the consumption heavyweight that is China and also fuelling the Indian revolution. The “new kids on the block”- LNG and CSG – continue to hog the limelight but with an obvious and deliberate shift by the PR people within these organisations moving away from announcing billion dollar deals and supply agreements to green friendly environmentally sound overtures.
The “last cab off the rank” in Queensland LNG stakes, Arrow Energy, announced its ace of sorts up its sleeve presented by Shell Country Chair, Ann Pickard, in the form of FLNG (Floating Liquefied Natural Gas). FLNG takes the form of a mega tanker literally providing a floating LNG plant, including staff quarters! Shell expects to have up to 9 of these beasts running by 2020 (coincidentally 2020 is also the year that Australia predicts to be the world’s largest LNG Supplier).
Todd Creeger, President of ConocoPhillips told us of the Shale Oil phenomenon gripping the US which promises to deliver up to a century’s worth of energy supply in reserve. We also heard of the technological innovations driving the shale oil success such as horizontal drilling and improved fraccing procedures.
The future of energy provision still looks rosy from a business and supply perspective in particular, despite the best efforts of the universally derided Carbon Tax. The real trade off here is that the environment will still take a pounding albeit with a gentler hammer.
for more information visit the official Australian Financial Review wrap at: http://www.afr.com/p/business/companies/what_they_said_energy_conference_6qfO4kokwktkQaoNRc2D1M
