Whitby lauds new blood to speed WA environmental approvals
The WA environment minister wanted to tackle bureaucrats "at the desk doing the same thing for 15 years, telling people why something can't be done."
Domestic gas, or domgas, in WA comes from gas LNG producers are required to reserve for the local market and smaller domestic gas-only projects.
WA energy minister Bill Johnston sees no current alternative to gas for dispatchable power and wants to use low prices to lure more gas-hungry investments to WA
Plentiful and cheap gas to WA may be undermined by pressure from North West Shelf LNG participants and Perth Basin producers for the McGowan Government to weaken its ban on the export of onshore gas.
Strike Energy's Stuart Nicholls regards the WA gas market as a dangerous place to be as new cheap supply comes in as the big resource players prepare to move away from fossil fuels.
WA's competition regulator has accepted that competition from renewable energy will shrink the economic life of the Dampier to Bunbury gas pipeline by more than three decades.
Western Gas is looking east, at petrochemicals, at WA buyers and the North West Shelf LNG plant to find a market for its Equus gas.
Santos' Reindeer gas field will fill with water sooner than expected and the production loss will add to concerns about the supply of gas to WA this decade.
Two huge new wind farms and more solar panels in WA's South West displaced coal and gas last quarter giving a win-win of lower prices and emissions.
Black Mountain expects the McGowan Government to soon waive its gas export ban but fracking the gas must wait for two years of environmental studies.
Chevron, Santos and Kerry Stokes' BCI Minerals are battling in court over responsibility for gas pipelines supplying 40 per cent of the WA market that traverse the $780 million Mardie salt project.
Momentum behind Perth Basin gas projects continues to grow with Alcoa committing to buy West Erregulla gas from Warrego.
Fortescue and Mitsui appear to have agreed massive emissions cuts with WA's environmental watchdog that is now looking at Woodside and Chevron LNG projects.
The gas industry argues burning methane is less damaging to the climate than coal, but are we underestimating the affect of methane leaks?
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