Opinion: Natural gas critical to energy security and net-zero transition

The gas sector’s role in delivering reliable and affordable energy is more important than ever, writes Keld Knudsen.

Developing Queensland’s abundant natural gas reserves has powered economic success and delivered wide-ranging and often-understated benefits the state.

Recently in The Courier-Mail, we revealed the true impact of the gas sector and the many ways it contributes to our way of life, driving the Queensland economy, supporting businesses, and directly employing thousands of Queenslanders.

This story is part of The Courier-Mail’s special Future Queensland: Resources series that reveals the truth about the contribution the much-maligned resources industry makes to Queensland. You can read all of our coverage here

Our latest economic analysis lays out the benefits generated from the nation-building vision in 2011 that saw $80bn invested to develop a Queensland LNG sector. Since then, it has made Queensland an enviable economic success story.

The sector has spent more than $65bn with Queensland businesses since 2011. Nearly half of these are in regional parts of the state, and on average 3135 local businesses are supported by the gas sector each year.

These businesses keep the energy flowing by undertaking civil works, construction, machining and repair, fleet management, hospitality services, engineering, and more.

This investment in local businesses to develop and maintain Queensland’s world-leading natural gas industry has generated on average 62,618 indirect full-time jobs every year and delivered $188.7bn in total economic benefit since 2011.

And our state’s natural gas is ensuring energy security and supporting decarbonisation efforts in other parts of Australia, and across the globe, particularly in Asia.

At a time of heightened gas demand to keep households warm and businesses running, the sector’s role in delivering reliable and affordable energy is more important than ever.

Natural gas from projects are critical to supporting ambitions for a Future Made in Australia, because the nation’s manufacturing will continue to depend on natural gas for its energy needs (already it provides 42 per cent) to make essential products such as steel, cement, bricks and glass that require high temperatures.

Yet despite growing recognition about the critical role gas will play in the energy transition, activists continue scrambling at every opportunity to push falsehoods and misleading claims.

One thing is clear, and that is natural gas is critical to Australia’s energy security and net-zero transformation, and in the energy security and decarbonisation of our region.

Keld Knudsen is Queensland director of Australian Energy Producers