The week in review
Well, that was a busy week, spent in Adelaide at the Australian Energy Producers annual conference.
Many meetings were held, many hands were shaken, many speeches were endured enjoyed but all in all a productive few days away from our bustling office in Perth.
One thing which did occur to me is the degree to which the leaders of our energy businesses and indeed our political parties very rarely actually say anything of note anymore.
Their various communications and media managers have them trained to within an inch of their lives, taught to dodge and evade questions from the press pack and return the conversation to more benign and safer ground.
Time and again this week I have watched industry leaders and politicians alike, speaking from a stage at the Adelaide Convention Centre or speaking directly to a pack of journalists at a press conference and time again, to be honest, not a lot was gained.
No one is any worse than any other, no one is any better. It's just they're all…pretty darn beige.
Even when lobbing questions at Pauline Hanson and Barnaby Joyce – two people surely prepared to throw us journos a morsel or two – they were same. Repetitive, on message and non-controversial.
Makes the lives of journalists covering these events a lot harder to ensure both an enjoyable and informative read.
But as one media manager I spoke to this week said: "It's all just a game, isn't it?"
However.
Back in the west, one politician seems to have forgotten his media training. Or else is taking a very calculated and cynical risk.
According to an article in the Australian Financial Review, the WA Premier Roger Cook has said if Woodside's Browse project doesn't get approved by the federal environment minister Murray Watt in the next few weeks, the state government might have to turn to fracking in the Kimberley.
Talk about brinksmanship. Or "environmental blackmail" as the WA Greens Sophie McNeill called it.
At the moment fracking is banned across all of WA except the Kimberley but the Valhalla fracking plan from the Texas-based Black Mountain company is under consideration.
So, what's it going be, Murray? Allow Woodside to drill for gas in the Browse Basin, far away in the ocean, hundreds of miles from the eyes of voters or allow fracking to happen in the unspoilt wilderness that is the Kimberley?
Cook's support for Woodside and indeed specifically for their Browse project is a matter of record. It appears he thinks – given the choice – there's more appetite for Woodside's plan than for the fracking one of the biggest tourism draws to Western Australia.
To be honest, I fully suspect to see both projects appealed in the federal court if they're approved.
More lawfare. More delay. More uncertainty. More money in the lawyers' pockets.
Finally on the subject of Browse gas, there are reports today that Cook is seriously concerned - with the possible arrival of INPEX into the Browse JV - that the gas could go to Darwin to be processed into LNG.
My take on this? More sabre rattling as there's little chance the gas will ever be re-routed to Ichthys and here's why:
- INPEX's buy in to the JV is far from assured with a pre-empt move available to all the existing partners, not just Woodside.
- Even if they do buy PetroChina's stake, it's only 10% - hardly enough to sway boardroom discussions about where the gas should be processed.
- It's well-known how close Woodside and the WA govt is - it's in both their interests to ensure the gas stays on course to go to Karratha.
- And here's the kicker - sending the gas to Darwin would cost the JV more taxes and sooner too. As a pipeline to Darwin is shorter and therefore faster to build, the capex/development phase of the operation would be shorter, meaning PRRT would accrue sooner.
Any no-one wants to pay tax any sooner than you have to.
My money's on Browse coming to Karratha. After a lengthy court fight, of course.
Yours,
Russell Yeo
Editor Energy News Bulletin
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