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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-11-25 Daily Xml
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WHYALLA MINERAL EXPLORATION

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (14:38): My question is to the Minister for Mineral Resources Development. Will the minister please provide details of any further investment opportunities being considered for the Upper Spencer Gulf?

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister Assisting the Premier in Public Sector Management) (14:38): I thank the honourable member for his question. In answer to previous questions, I have been able to highlight the growing number of opportunities opening up for the Upper Spencer Gulf. Just this week, I mentioned OneSteel's decision to proceed with the development of Iron Chieftain as part of phase 2 of Project Magnet in the Middleback Ranges.

I have also announced that Arafura Resources has selected Whyalla as the preferred location for its $1 billion rare earths complex, a project that has been declared a major development to ensure the highest level of environmental assessment available under South Australian law.

Today I am delighted to inform honourable members in this place of an announcement by Beach Energy of a joint investigation with Japan's Itochu Corp. into the potential to supply unconventional gas sourced from the Cooper Basin to a mini-LNG plant in the Upper Spencer Gulf. This $1 billion proposal to export unconventional gas to Japan has the potential to create jobs as well as extend the life of production from the Cooper Basin.

Beach Energy and Japan's Itochu estimate that the project has the potential to create more than a thousand jobs during the construction phase and hundreds of jobs during its operations. Conventional natural gas reserves in the Cooper Basin will eventually be exhausted, and the potential to harness nonconventional gas would extend the longevity of supplies of this important energy source.

The selection by Beach and Itochu of Port Bonython as a potential site for a mini-LNG plant again underlines this government's ability to attract international investment. Beach and Itochu have indicated the Upper Spencer Gulf as a preferred site for a future LNG plant, providing significant employment and investment potential for the Upper Spencer Gulf. In a statement issued to the ASX today, Beach and Itochu said the planned facility would be a mid-scale LNG plant and offloading terminal with a capacity of a minimum of 1 million tonnes a year of LNG. A plant of this scale would require about 60 petajoules of gas each year.

Beach Managing Director, Reg Nelson, told the ASX that South Australia appears to be an excellent choice for a future LNG facility and that such a project would generate significant employment for the state. Mr Nelson said an opportunity such as this will further accelerate the next phase of the Cooper Basin as one of Australia's major sources of long-term gas supply.

Mr President, I am sure you are aware that our state remains Australia's biggest onshore producer of oil and gas. Most of this originates from the Cooper Basin in the state's north-east. Since 1969, gas has been produced from the basin to supply south-eastern Australian markets. Billions of dollars of investment by the Santos Joint Venture have led to oil being produced from the basin since 1982.

Since the major turnover in licences at the turn of the century, the Cooper Basin has attracted a record number of explorers and very high tenement work programs, as well as a sharply increasing oil discovery rate. This turnover changed both the tenement map and the make-up of Australia's exploration industry through a number of company-making discoveries.

As the Greens candidate for Giles said during the election campaign this year, the Rann government is all about jobs, jobs, jobs. While this was meant as a criticism of this government—because I think he said, 'All we ever hear from this government is jobs, jobs, jobs—enough's enough'—it is a badge that we wear with honour.

The employment generated by the LNG project proposed by Beach and Itochu should it be given the green light—and by that I do not mean the capital 'g' Green light but the small 'g' green light—will assist the government in reaching its employment target of 100,000 new jobs by 2016. While this government welcomes the potential investment, I can assure honourable members that Beach and Itochu will be subject to the usual regulatory and statutory approvals for this proposed development.

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