Industry benefits
Australia’s oil and gas sector is a key driver for the national economy, which has been a result of many large-scale natural gas projects coming onstream.
The industry provides many benefits including economic, community and environmental to all part of society both domestically and internationally.
The Australian oil and industry has announced billions of dollars in new investment in recent years to bring more gas into the market, supporting both domestic gas consumption and the gas export projects that are underpinning much of Australia’s economic growth.
Economic
The oil and gas industry is a major contributor to Australia’s current prosperity and wealth creation in numerous ways, including:
- Investment
- Employment
- Direct and indirect job creation
- Regional development
- Export revenue
- Taxation
- Energy security.
This sector underpins around 80,000 direct and indirect jobs – and hundreds of thousands of Australian jobs rely on the reliable, affordable and sustainable supply of oil and gas.
Many oil and gas jobs are based in rural and regional towns, which provides a range of benefits including upskilling and educational opportunities as well as creating stronger, more resilient local communities.
In addition, companies all over Australia are supplying goods and services to the oil and gas industry, and the use of fly-in, fly-out staffing is spreading the benefits of the sector right across Australia.
Community
Many oil and gas jobs and investment are based in rural and regional towns, which provides a range of benefits including upskilling and educational opportunities as well as creating stronger, more resilient local communities.
In regional areas, the oil and gas industry provides economic opportunity for local residents. This has been done side-by-side with existing businesses and the benefits to the entire community are considerable and long-term.
The reality is that the natural gas industry is working to address many of the same issues faced by rural and regional Australia. We all need reliable and affordable energy.
Environmental
The oil and gas sector provides a range of environmental benefits for Australia.
The Australian oil and gas industry has a strong commitment to high environmental standards and minimising environmental impacts.
The industry is heavily regulated, and companies exploring for and producing oil and gas are committed to minimising their environmental impacts.
In terms of climate policy, natural gas can play a key role in helping to reduce emissions and transforming energy generation.
The oil and gas sector is working hard to reduce, offset and mitigate emissions in its operations
For almost 15 years, the oil and gas industry has had a consistent policy on climate change. Click here to read the policy.
The oil and gas industry supports a national approach to greenhouse gas emissions reduction policies, which are the responsibility of the Australian Government, as the lead signatory to Australia’s Paris Agreement commitments.
Gas is also an enabler of renewables, providing essential backup and peaking performance.
As part of Australia’s energy system, natural gas can reduce emissions from electricity generation at home and overseas.
Australia’s natural gas, including our LNG export industry, is in a unique position to contribute substantially to the economic development of the nation and reducing greenhouse gas emissions at home and in the global context.
The growth in gas exports has delivered safe, stable and cleaner energy to the major economies of Asia, contributing globally to meeting the targets in the Paris Climate Change Agreement and confirms our abundant gas resources are and will continue to be a significant strategic asset for Australia