The Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association (APPEA) has released an independent study outlining potential global greenhouse gas benefits associated with Australia expanding its liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry.

 

Produced by the global engineering consultancy WorleyParsons, the study, Greenhouse Gas Emissions Study of Australian CSG to LNG, compares the amount of greenhouse gas emissions associated with Chinese power generators using Australian LNG derived from coal seam gas (CSG), and those using imported black coal.

 

It concludes that:

 

  • For every tonne of CO2 emissions associated with the CSG-LNG production and use, up to 4.3 tonnes of emissions are avoided when the gas is used instead of imported coal by Chinese power generators;
  • A CSG-LNG project exporting 10 million tonnes of LNG per annum to China could avoid more than 32 million tonnes of global CO2 emissions each year;
  • Over a 30-year project life, such a project could avoid 968 million tonnes of CO2; almost double Australia’s total annual greenhouse gas emissions.

 

APPEA Chief Executive Belinda Robinson said the study’s findings supported the LNG industry’s call for a carbon price policy that is unmatched in competitor countries.

 

 “If a cost is imposed on Australia’s LNG industry, global emissions will increase as a consequence of there being less natural gas available to replace more greenhouse-intensive fuels,” she said.

 

“Selling our gas to the world is the most meaningful thing Australia can do to reduce global emissions and any policy that puts the brakes on Australia’s LNG potential will only deny the rest of the world a cleaner form of energy – at a time when demand has never been greater – and have the perverse effect of actually increasing global emissions.”

 

Greenhouse Gas Emissions Study of Australian CSG to LNG follows a 2008 Worley Parson report on Australia’s North West Shelf LNG project that found that for every tonne of greenhouse gas emissions associated with the export of conventional Australian LNG to China, up to nine and a half tonnes could be avoided when substituted for coal in power generation. Both reports analysed full life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions including those associated with extraction and processing in Australia right through to combustion in Chinese power generation.

 

The report’s executive summary is available on the publications page at www.appea.com.au