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Speaker 1: Now the country's peak body for oil and gas. The

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Speaker 1: oil and gas industry has raised concerns that the Federal

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Speaker 1: government's changes to the safeguard mechanism, which we spoke about

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Speaker 1: a little bit earlier this morning, ignore the key role

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Speaker 1: of natural gas in meeting Australia's climate goals. Now, the

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Speaker 1: Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association says that the sector

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Speaker 1: is committed to net zero by twenty fifty and economy

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Speaker 1: wide policy to drive down emissions.

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Speaker 2: Now.

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Speaker 1: We heard from the Environment Center of the Northern Territory

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Speaker 1: a little bit earlier this morning, Kirsty Howie, who says

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Speaker 1: that this is really the sounding of the death knell

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Speaker 1: for the likes of the Beaterloo and Barossa projects. But

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Speaker 1: joining me on the line right now is appya's chief

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Speaker 1: executive Samantha McCulloch. Good morning to you, Samantha.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, thanks for having me.

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Speaker 1: Thank you so much for your time this morning. Firstly,

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Speaker 1: can you explain the Federal government's changes to the safeguard

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Speaker 1: mechanism and what that'll mean for your industry?

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie. Well, the changes that were announced yesterday put

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Speaker 2: some increasing obligations on the industry, including on projects that

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Speaker 2: are already very well developed and well advanced. So it's

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Speaker 2: changed the rules of the games for what are really

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Speaker 2: substantial investments. As an industry, we are committed to net zero.

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Speaker 2: Our members APM members have identified their own net zero targets,

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Speaker 2: some earlier than twenty fifty, twenty forty, or twenty thirty

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Speaker 2: in some cases. So the industry is already investing to

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Speaker 2: reduce emissions. We're investing in technologies like carbon capture and

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Speaker 2: storage to deliver those deep emissions reductions. But having the

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Speaker 2: rules of the game changed on a fairly frequent basis

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Speaker 2: at this point in time is a concerns for these investments.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, what do those changes and to use your words,

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Speaker 1: having you know, those rules changed, what does it mean

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Speaker 1: for projects like the Beatleline.

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Speaker 2: So in the case of the Beterloo, the developments will

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Speaker 2: now have to ensure that their net zero for all

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Speaker 2: their direct emissions. But actually, in practice, the developers in

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Speaker 2: the Bea Toloo were already targeting this and planning for this,

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Speaker 2: and the Beterloo has very low CO two concentration in

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Speaker 2: the gas. So for your listeners that might not be

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Speaker 2: aware when you produce gas. Often there can be CO

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Speaker 2: two in the field, it's naturally occurring that CO two

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Speaker 2: is very very low. In the case of Bedloo, it's

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Speaker 2: sort of one to three percent, So addressing those emissions

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Speaker 2: is something that the industry was already planning on doing

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Speaker 2: in the most.

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Speaker 1: So does it sound the death knell for projects like

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Speaker 1: the Barossa and the be Toloo as the Northern Territory

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Speaker 1: Environment Center of SEED.

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Speaker 2: Look how these changes affect projects differs from projects to

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Speaker 2: project projects, but in general I would say the Baloo

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Speaker 2: it's very much in line with what project developers were

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Speaker 2: already planning to do. And in fact, the Betloo is

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Speaker 2: just such an important economic and energy security opportunity for

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Speaker 2: the Northern Territory but also for Australia that it's really

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Speaker 2: important that we see these projects go ahead. This is

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Speaker 2: a huge resource that can deliver enormous economic benefits up

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Speaker 2: to six thousand jobs for the Northern Territory while helping

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Speaker 2: to meet energy security domestically. So we have organizations like

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Speaker 2: the a trip of C and the Austrian Energy Market

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Speaker 2: Regulator warning of gas shortfalls. Bedloo could be operating from

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Speaker 2: as early as as twenty twenty four and supplying gas

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Speaker 2: into the domestic market. So it's an opportunity that we

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Speaker 2: should absolutely be developing and supporting.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, this is where I always find it really sort

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Speaker 1: of interesting, and I guess difficult for the regular Joe

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Speaker 1: to be able to get their hit around because you know,

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Speaker 1: on the one hand, you've got the Environment Center saying

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Speaker 1: that this sounds the death knell for the likes of

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Speaker 1: the Beatloo Dead. On the other hand, you know, we

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Speaker 1: can all see what's going on on the East Coast,

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Speaker 1: and we know that there's been some real issues when

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Speaker 1: it comes to energy and then the cost of power

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Speaker 1: and the concerns with you know, with some of those

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Speaker 1: coal fired power stations closing down and what it means

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Speaker 1: and in terms of transitioning. So I guess there's going

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Speaker 1: to be people listening this morning who are maybe feeling

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Speaker 1: a bit confused.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and look, Katie, the practical reality is that we

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Speaker 2: need more gas to support our net zero pathway. So

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Speaker 2: we need more gas as we move to away from

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Speaker 2: coal fire generation, and as we try to phase out

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Speaker 2: coal fire generation, as we deploy more renewables wind and solar,

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Speaker 2: we need gases that reliable backup partner to be there

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Speaker 2: when the renewables are not available. So we're seeing this

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Speaker 2: already now, particularly on the East Coast where demands for

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Speaker 2: gas is actually increasing for power generation, and then we

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Speaker 2: still need gas to fuel our manufacturing sector. Gas is

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Speaker 2: an important speed stop so so many of the things

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Speaker 2: that we make in produce in Australia, and it will

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Speaker 2: continue to be relied upon by industry as that reliable fuel.

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Speaker 2: And of course the industries are playing a leading role

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Speaker 2: in terms of developing cleaner fuels like low carbon hydrogen,

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Speaker 2: as well as technologies like carbon capturing storage, which are

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Speaker 2: really critical to put us on that path to net Buro.

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Speaker 1: So, Sam, just on the Betaloo, you know where are

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Speaker 1: we at in terms of that project. How soon are

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Speaker 1: we anticipating that? You know that things are sort of

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Speaker 1: going to really start to get under why.

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Speaker 2: Look, this is a really exciting opportunity. The developers in

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Speaker 2: the Beloo are moving to target gas production from as

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Speaker 2: early as midway through next year. There's a plenty of

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Speaker 2: activity happening there. We're waiting for some final recommendations from

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Speaker 2: the Pepper inquiry from the Northern Territory government, but with

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Speaker 2: that resolve, the developments will be able to go ahead

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Speaker 2: in the coming years, and as we're discussing this is

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Speaker 2: really important not just the economic activity I think in

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Speaker 2: the Northern Territory, but just in terms of supporting domestic

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Speaker 2: supply and energy security in the territory but also along

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Speaker 2: the East Coast of Australia.

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Speaker 1: Well happy Chief Executive, Samantha McCulloch. We really appreciate your

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Speaker 1: time this morning. Thanks so much for having a chat

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Speaker 1: with us.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, appreciate it.

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Speaker 1: Thank you.