With new production in the pipeline, Australia’s LNG exports could potentially quadruple within a decade. Australia could well be the world’s largest exporter of LNG by 2017/18, overtaking Qatar. This is destined to provide major benefits in the form of long-term employment, infrastructure development, additional government revenue, and a multiplicity of economic advantages.

Let’s give the Europeans and their debt problems a break this week and talk about more positive news. Resources Minister Martin Ferguson announced last week “Australia is well on track to become the major gas supplier in the Asia-Pacific region… We are entering a golden age of gas.”

The occasion for such an upbeat pronouncement was the final approval given for the $34 billion Ichthys liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant off Darwin. The joint venture project will be operated by Japan’s Inpex with France’s Total, and brings committed investment in Australia’s burgeoning LNG industry to $175 billion. Ichthys will become Australia’s second largest resources construction project behind the $43 billion Gorgon LNG project operated by Chevron, and adds to the hectic pace of expansion activity that has been building over the past two years. First production from Ichthys is expected in 2016.

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