King to pitch new gas investment rules to Japan, Korea

Ms King was referring to proposed rules about consultation that oil and gas projects need to carry out, in a bid to avoid legal delays such as those plaguing Santos’ $5.8 billion Barossa development off the Northern Territory.

Earlier this month, the government released a paper which covered consultation with Indigenous communities on new offshore projects.

Government officials and investors from Japan and South Korea have repeatedly raised concerns about regulatory changes under the Albanese government they fear threatens future LNG exports and the viability of billions of dollar of investments in Australian projects.

It will be Ms King’s first visit to Japan since confirming she would legislate to adjust offshore regulations. She is scheduled to meet Japan’s new Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Ken Saito, and South Korea’s new energy minister, Ahn Duk-geun.

Asian investors have been concerned court rulings over Barossa in 2022 opened the door to legal challenges to projects, including Woodside Energy’s $16.5 billion Scarborough venture in Western Australia and other elements of Santos’ project in the Timor Sea.

“We are developing this strategy to provide an evidence base for the future gas needs of Australia and our export partners,” she will say.

Ms King will also use the trip to emphasise Australia’s environmental credentials as a supplier of critical minerals and rare earths needed for Japan and South Korea’s green energy transition. Ms King last week held crisis talks with nickel and lithium producers as a supply glut sends commodity prices crashing and threatens to close more Australian mines, partly due to cheaper mining in Indonesia.

“Australian nickel and lithium resources are produced to the highest environmental, social and governance standards, meaning we offer more sustainable and ethical critical minerals than many of our competitors,” she will say.

“However this is not recognised in the international market. This remains a significant concern to me. If the world is really serious about helping the planet, we need to ensure all materials we mine and manufacture are as green and clean as they can be.”

She will reiterate previous pledges that Australia is a reliable and trusted gas partner, singling out the Barossa LNG project and the Scarborough LNG projects.

Australia exported about $100 billion of LNG, iron ore, coal and other commodities to Japan last financial year, while total Japanese investment in Australia was worth $259 billion, she said. Australia supplied 40 per cent of Japan’s gas last year.

In August last year, two big Japanese investors struck a $US500 million ($763 million) deal to buy into Woodside Energy’s $16.5 billion Scarborough LNG project in Western Australia.

In October, former Tokyo Gas chairman Michiaki Hirose said Australian LNG was vital to keeping the lights on in large parts of Tokyo. Mr Hirose will be attending an event at the Australian Embassy on Monday where Ms King will deliver her speech.

Ms King will tell an audience in Tokyo that traditional resources like iron ore and metallurgical coal, would remain essential to steel production, while at the same time Australia must scale up the development of critical minerals projects to build solar panels, batteries, wind turbines and electric vehicles. Gas would also play an important role in the energy mix in the future, she said.

“My visit is a great opportunity to promote investment and support for Australia’s growing critical minerals sector, which is responsibly and reliably producing key minerals needed for clean energy technologies that are essential to help lower emissions and meet climate goals,” she said in a statement on Sunday.