ANOTHER big Chinese energy company has declared it wants to buy more gas from Australia following the nation's biggest export deal, in which PetroChina will take $45 billion of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Western Australia's Browse Basin.
The chief executive of the China National Offshore Oil Corporation, Fu Chengyu, said yesterday that Australia was set to become one of the world's largest exporters of clean energy.
"Australia is, in my eyes, one of the major resource countries of the world, especially in oil and gas," Mr Fu told The Australian.
"Some day, Australia will be one of the major LNG suppliers to the whole world.
"Australia will be a key to world energy security, especially as it will support clean energy."
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Australia's oil and gas production up
Australian oil and gas production grew strongly in the 2006/07 year, a new report has found.
Energy advisory group EnergyQuest said oil production jumped 16.6 per cent to 129.8 million barrels, due to higher output from the Carnarvon Basin off the West Australian coast.
That helped lift petroleum production 10 per cent to 472 million barrels of oil equivalent in the 12 months to the end of June.
EnergyQuest said gas production was up 8.9 per cent to 1,661 petajoules.
"The growth in gas production reflects the drought still gripping eastern Australia, together with continued growth in exports of liquid natural gas," EnergyQuest chief executive Graeme Bethune said.
"In the most recent quarter, gas use for power generation on the east coast more than doubled to offset the fall in coal-fired generation arising from water restrictions in Queensland and Victoria.
"Strong demand for gas has also pushed up wholesale gas prices, with average Victorian spot prices increasing 42 per cent to $5.02 per gigajoule compared with the previous June quarter."
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