Minister for energy and mining in South Australia, Tom Koutsantonis has told a conference of the oil and gas industry in Adelaide that his state government is “at your disposal”.
According to reports, Koutsantonis made what is being described as an extraordinary comments during his address to the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association national conference on Monday morning.
The minister was quoted as saying that oil and gas companies were needed to achieve net zero by 2050, claiming “we cannot transform our economy to net zero without this industry”.
“We are thankful you are here. We are happy to a be recipient of Appea’s largesse in the form of coming here more often,” Koutsantonis said. “The South Australian government is at your disposal, we are here to help and we are here to offer you a pathway to the future.”
Read also: After Musk’s Twitter Takeover, climate crisis deniers target scientists
Koutsantonis’s comments followed a speech by federal resources minister, Madeleine King, who spoke about helping to develop a carbon capture and storage industry in Australia through the government’s future gas strategy.
King had said that it was important for Australia to remain a “reliable, essential” supplier of gas for domestic and export market as the world looked to reduce its emissions ahead of 2050. She said capture and storage was a “necessary part of a wider decarbonisation effort”, with the government having released new acreage for greenhouse gas storage projects for the “first time in years”.
“The will is there, the knowhow is there,” she said. “We want a regulatory system for carbon capture and storage that is robust and responsive and position Australians resources sector to bring new CCS projects on line.”
King further stated that the industry could obtain credits for lowering their emissions below baseline under the safeguard mechanism, but only “if they are verified and scientifically sound”.
The latest announcements were welcomed by the Woodside chief executive and chair of Appea, Meg O’Neill, who said it provided “a great opportunity to outline the ongoing role of gas in the energy transition”.
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
