While Canadian officials and pundits continue to debate the role of natural gas in a carbon constrained world, Australia’s largest independent oil and gas company is moving ahead with plans to grow its global LNG business amid what it calls “resilient” demand for the fuel.Speaking in Perth on Wednesday, Woodside Energy CEO Meg O’Neill outlined a strategy of continuing to supply “affordable, reliable and lower carbon energy” — LNG — “to a world that needs it.”And most of that demand is expected to come from Asia as the world’s fastest growing economies take steps to reduce reliance on higher emitting coal as their populations and economies expand.That’s because natural gas provides a reliable base load backstop to their growing portfolio of renewables such as wind and solar, she said.“The world’s demand for Woodside’s products is expected to be resilient in the coming decades as populations and economies grow, with our target markets in Asia driving primary energy demand,” she told an investor conference.“Growth in demand for LNG in particular is expected to continue as buyers seek to secure supplies to support renewables in the power mix as they decarbonize. Woodside’s LNG-weighted portfolio is well suited to capitalize on that demand.”In addition, Woodside is building a portfolio of offshore carbon capture and storage (CCS) opportunities with the view to decarbonizing its base business and offering a service to customers who want to reduce their own. These opportunities have the potential to store more than three million tonnes of CO2 per year by 2030, she said.."We believe your security is our security, and we believe also that we can provide you support in terms of energy and critical minerals which is so important to the Japanese people,"Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly.It comes as Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly was in Japan touting Canadian energy and critical minerals ahead of a meeting of G7 foreign ministers on Tuesday."We believe your security is our security, and we believe also that we can provide you support in terms of energy and critical minerals which is so important to the Japanese people," Joly said..That’s despite the fact the massive LNG Canada project near Kitimat — which touts Mitsubishi as a major partner — won’t be ready to ship Canadian gas to Asian shores before 2025 at the earliest.It also comes as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rebuffed both the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on the business case for LNG in August of 2022 and January of this year.It’s also despite pleas from Alberta Premier Danielle Smith to ramp up Canadian LNG exports under Article 6 of the Paris Accord — which she repeated at the premiers’ meeting in Halifax on Monday — in the face of a lack of enthusiasm from federal officials to use cleaner Canadian energy to help other countries reduce emissions.
While Canadian officials and pundits continue to debate the role of natural gas in a carbon constrained world, Australia’s largest independent oil and gas company is moving ahead with plans to grow its global LNG business amid what it calls “resilient” demand for the fuel.Speaking in Perth on Wednesday, Woodside Energy CEO Meg O’Neill outlined a strategy of continuing to supply “affordable, reliable and lower carbon energy” — LNG — “to a world that needs it.”And most of that demand is expected to come from Asia as the world’s fastest growing economies take steps to reduce reliance on higher emitting coal as their populations and economies expand.That’s because natural gas provides a reliable base load backstop to their growing portfolio of renewables such as wind and solar, she said.“The world’s demand for Woodside’s products is expected to be resilient in the coming decades as populations and economies grow, with our target markets in Asia driving primary energy demand,” she told an investor conference.“Growth in demand for LNG in particular is expected to continue as buyers seek to secure supplies to support renewables in the power mix as they decarbonize. Woodside’s LNG-weighted portfolio is well suited to capitalize on that demand.”In addition, Woodside is building a portfolio of offshore carbon capture and storage (CCS) opportunities with the view to decarbonizing its base business and offering a service to customers who want to reduce their own. These opportunities have the potential to store more than three million tonnes of CO2 per year by 2030, she said.."We believe your security is our security, and we believe also that we can provide you support in terms of energy and critical minerals which is so important to the Japanese people,"Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly.It comes as Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly was in Japan touting Canadian energy and critical minerals ahead of a meeting of G7 foreign ministers on Tuesday."We believe your security is our security, and we believe also that we can provide you support in terms of energy and critical minerals which is so important to the Japanese people," Joly said..That’s despite the fact the massive LNG Canada project near Kitimat — which touts Mitsubishi as a major partner — won’t be ready to ship Canadian gas to Asian shores before 2025 at the earliest.It also comes as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rebuffed both the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on the business case for LNG in August of 2022 and January of this year.It’s also despite pleas from Alberta Premier Danielle Smith to ramp up Canadian LNG exports under Article 6 of the Paris Accord — which she repeated at the premiers’ meeting in Halifax on Monday — in the face of a lack of enthusiasm from federal officials to use cleaner Canadian energy to help other countries reduce emissions.
