The Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association has welcomed the 2016-17 Federal Budget and its acknowledgement of Australia’s oil and gas sector.
APPEA Chief Executive Dr Malcolm Roberts said, “The industry welcomes the $100million in extra funding to Geoscience Australia for its Exploring for the Future program, which will map the petroleum potential of northern Australia and South Australia.
“APPEA is pleased that the Government recognises the need for further investment to reverse the significant fall in petroleum exploration in Australia’s onshore and offshore basins.
“The oil and gas industry is completing an unprecedented $200billion wave of investment. The industry is already generating $17billion in exports, paying billions of dollars in government revenues and creating and supporting thousands of jobs. By 2019, Australia will be the world’s largest LNG exporter.
“As many of these projects begin operation, this investment will continue to underpin Australia’s economic performance and provide benefits to Australia for many decades to come,” Dr Roberts said.
The budget paper stated, “More than $200billion has been invested in Australia’s LNG projects in the past decade. As these projects come online, production will ramp up. Export volumes of LNG from Australia are expected to increase substantially over the forecast period, with Australia expected to become one of the world’s largest exporters of LNG in the next five years. Increasing LNG export volumes will also contribute to both real and nominal GDP growth.”
Dr Roberts said the challenging conditions currently facing the industry mean it is more important than ever to ensure the oil and gas industry’s policy and regulatory framework remains competitive and encourages further exploration.
“Capturing future growth and investment opportunities, and leveraging investments to support future industry service sector growth, must be a key feature of the policies of the major parties for the imminent federal election,” Dr Roberts said.
