published by |
 |
 |
produced for: |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Overview | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Australia’s energy supply | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Australia’s energy supply is utilised for export and for meeting Australia’s domestic consumption needs. Energy exports account for 66 per cent of domestic energy production and domestic consumption accounts for the remaining 34 per cent. Australia is the world’s eighth largest energy producer, accounting for around 2.4 per cent of the world’s energy production. Given Australia’s large energy resources, Australia is well positioned to continue to supply a significant proportion of the world’s energy needs, while maintaining domestic energy supply. The rate of growth in Australia’s production of energy has been increasing. Over the 10 years from 1996-97 to 2006-07, energy production increased at an average rate of 4.3 per cent a year, compared with 3.4 per cent over the previous 10 years, being driven largely by a growing global demand for energy. The main fuels produced in Australia are coal, uranium and natural gas. In 2006-07, Australia’s energy production was dominated by coal production, which accounted for 54 per cent of total Australian energy production in energy content terms, followed by uranium with a share of 26 per cent and natural gas with a share of 11 per cent. Crude oil and LPG represented 7 per cent of total energy production, and renewables represented 2 per cent. The Australian energy industry is an important part of the economy. The coal, petroleum, gas and electricity industries contributed around $57 billion to industry gross value added in 2006-07, representing 6 per cent of the Australian total. The oil and gas extraction industries were the largest contributors to industry value added, followed by the coal mining industry and the electricity supply industry. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Energy exports | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Australia is a net energy exporter, exporting approximately two-thirds of its domestic energy production. However, Australia is a net importer of crude oil and refined petroleum products. Coal is Australia’s largest energy export earner, with a value of $24 billion in 2007-08, followed by crude oil and LNG. Crude oil and LNG are also among Australia’s 10 highest value commodity exports. Energy exports accounted for 18 per cent of Australia’s total exports of goods and services in 2007-08. Since 1987-88, the value of Australia’s energy exports (in 2007-08 Australian dollars) has increased by an average 7 per cent a year. Energy export earnings increased by 15 per cent in 2007-08 to $43 billion. In 2008-09, high contract prices for bulk commodities in place until the end of March 2009 are forecast to result in the value of Australia’s energy exports increasing by 72 per cent to $75 billion. The depreciation of the Australian dollar in mid-2008 has also supported export prices. As most energy commodities are traded in US dollar terms, Australian denominated energy prices are higher when the Australian dollar is weaker. Coal is forecast to drive the majority of the growth in export earnings, with an increase of 124 per cent in the value of coal exports in 2008-09. Crude oil and LPG exports are forecast to decrease in value in 2008-09, by 11 per cent and 6 per cent respectively. The global financial crisis has resulted in sharp falls in prices for energy commodities from record highs in July 2008. Economic activity in many OECD countries is expected to continue to contract before a gradual recovery in late 2009. The effect of lower world prices on Australian export earnings will depend on how long low prices are sustained and future movements in the value of the Australian dollar. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic energy consumption | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Although Australia’s energy consumption is growing, the rate of growth has been decreasing over the past 50 years. Australia’s energy consumption increased at an average rate of 2.3 per cent a year over the 10 years from 1996-97 to 2006-07, compared with 2.7 per cent over the previous 10 years. In 2006-07 energy consumption increased by 2.3 per cent to 5770 petajoules, representing 34 per cent of total Australian energy production. Over the past 20 years, domestic energy consumption has increased at a slower rate than production. Rapid growth in global demand for Australia’s energy resources has driven growth in domestic production. As a result, the share of domestic consumption in Australian energy production has been decreasing, from around 50 per cent in the 1980s, to an average of 42 per cent in the 1990s, and down to 34 per cent over the past eight years. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Energy resources | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Australia has abundant, high quality energy resources. Australian resources of uranium, for instance, account for 38 per cent of total world resources, while Australian brown coal resources represent 24 per cent of the world total. A significant amount of black coal and natural gas reserves are also located in Australia. A large proportion of Australian black coal resources are high quality bituminous coals, characterised by a low sulphur and low ash content. Australian crude oil and natural gas liquids are typically low in sulphur and of the light variety of liquid fuels, which have a higher value than the heavy variety because of their lower wax content. At current rates of production, Australia’s energy resources are expected to last for many more decades. The proportion of economic demonstrated reserves (EDR) to current production is estimated at 500 years for brown coal, 100 years for black coal and nearly 60 years for conventional gas. Despite increasing energy production, reserves to production ratios have remained steady over the past 10 years, reflecting the addition of new discoveries and the upgrading of resources which meet economic criteria. For example, over the past 20 years, the average reserve to production ratio for oil has been nine years, despite only slightly decreasing production. Crude oil, LPG and natural gas exploration expenditure increased by 32 per cent in 2007-08 to around $3 billion. Other minerals exploration expenditure, including exploration for coal resources, also increased sharply, to around $2.5 billion. The sharp increase in exploration expenditure since 2005-06 reflects increased exploration activity in response to sustained high energy and minerals prices. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coal | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Black coal resources are located in most states with significant quantities of high quality black coal in New South Wales and Queensland. These two states have 42 per cent and 53 per cent, respectively, of Australia’s black coal economic demonstrated resources. Australia’s brown coal deposits are located in South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Petroleum | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Australia’s resources of crude oil and condensate represent a small proportion of world resources. While crude oil resources decreased over the 10 years from 1996 to 2006, condensate and LPG resources have increased. Most of Australia’s petroleum resources are located off the coasts of Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Victoria. Western Australia has 66 per cent of Australia’s economic demonstrated resources of crude oil and 57 per cent of Australia’s LPG resources. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gas | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Australia’s identified conventional gas resources have increased fourfold over the past 20 years. Around 90 per cent of estimated recoverable reserves of conventional gas are located off the west and north-west coast of Australia. In addition to conventional gas resources, there is growing commercial utilisation of Australia’s resources of coal seam gas. Most of these resources are located in the black coal deposits of Queensland and New South Wales. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Uranium | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Australia’s identified uranium resources have more than doubled over the past two decades, with the majority of these resources located in South Australia, the Northern Territory and Western Australia. The Olympic Dam deposit in South Australia is the world’s largest uranium deposit. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
