Chevron and its joint venture partners ExxonMobil, Shell, Osaka Gas, Tokyo Gas and Chubu Electric Power have celebrated first production from the LNG Gorgon Project, off Western Australia.
The first LNG cargo is expected to be shipped from Gorgon next week.
APPEA Chief Executive, Dr Malcolm Roberts, said Gorgon was the latest project in a wave of unprecedented LNG investment that would deliver enduring benefits for all Australians.
“Gorgon is the largest single resource project ever developed in Australia and one of the world’s largest natural gas projects,” Dr Roberts said.
“The economic benefits to Australia during its construction have been enormous – more than 10,000 direct jobs and more than $34billion spent on local goods and services.
“But the long-term benefits will be even greater. Gorgon is expected to generate GDP growth of more than $440billion over the next two decades of operations and additional federal revenue of around $69billion.
“Every shipment of gas that sails from Barrow Island means more wealth for Australia and more cleaner burning energy for Asia.”
Dr Roberts said Australia was reaping the benefits of $200billion worth of new investment that would see LNG exports surge from 30million tonnes last year to more than 85million tonnes by 2020.
Four new LNG projects have entered production since 2014 (Queensland Curtis LNG, Gladstone LNG, Australia Pacific LNG and Gorgon) and another three are still under construction (Prelude Floating LNG, Wheatstone and Ichthys).
Dr Roberts said the industry’s growth has put Australia on track to overtake Qatar as the world’s largest LNG exporter in 2018.
“These are long-term legacy projects that will deliver jobs, taxation and export revenues for Australia for decades to come,” Dr Roberts said.
Dr Roberts said the recent BP Energy Outlook forecast natural gas to be the world’s fastest growing traditional fuel – gas consumption is expected to grow by 1.8 per cent a year to 2035.
