The Energy Club WA’s July Industry Dinner featured a panel discussion on the shifting dynamics of LNG exports. The discussion, led by Margaret Rogacki, Director for LNG ExxonMobil, was about competition, strategy, and Australia’s survival as a leader in LNG exports. The panellists included Jenny Solomon, Woodside Energy, Professor Gordon Flake, Perth US-Asia Centre, and Paul Everingham, CEO of ANGEA.
Margaret Rogacki shared, “When we look ahead, Asian LNG is expected to double by 2050, making the region central to the future of LNG… Asia-Pacific demand growth far outpaces the rest of the world.”
As the fastest-growing and most energy-hungry region globally, driven by China and India, the stakes for Australian exporters are enormous.
Rogacki stated that the US has quickly become a major supplier, overtaking Qatar and Australia in 2023, with most future LNG supply growth projected to come from North America. She highlighted that strategic alignment for Australia is critical to keep up.
Jenny Solomon provided insight into the structural differences between the US and Australian LNG models. She explained that the US typically operates on a tolling model, while Australia follows a more integrated value chain approach.
She said, “we need to think about our ability to be a long-term reliable partner in the energy security, not just of Japan but Korea and increasingly Southeast Asia.”
This reliability, however, is challenged by Australia’s lengthy approval processes.
Paul Everingham said, “with a 2,190-day approval process… we are not going to be competitive against a free market economy like the United States. That must change.”
He continued, “As Australians, I think governments must come together and work out how to bring that down by 50%, or even more, because we simply will not be competitive.”
He shared a comparison, which highlighted the significantly shorter U.S. approval timelines, using project-specific examples to underscore Australia's disadvantage.
Gordon Flake broadened the focus of the conversation to the environment of the 2025 regulatory landscape. He said, “It's not just energy policy, it is trade policy, it is alliance relationships, it is the rules-based orders, the international trading system, it's the investment environment, it's the US economy itself. These things are really, really volatile.”
He emphasised the growing importance of strategic partnerships between like-minded countries, such as Australia, Japan, Korea, and India, driven by rising concerns about global stability.
“Anxiety about China and now anxiety about the United States is going to hypercharge that relationship,” Flake noted, pointing to Japan’s increasing reliance on Australia for energy security.
Jenny Solomon added the importance of LNG in creating stability. “LNG market already has a lot of flexibility in it, but it keeps building in more, and so far LNG has been able to respond to a myriad of crises,” she said.
The panel stressed the need for public government support for LNG exports. Diplomacy requires more than infrastructure, it requires trust.
Paul Everingham explained, “Culturally in Asia… they need to see their partner country affirm that they will be a reliable partner. And unless you do that publicly, they won’t necessarily take you at full trust.”
Gordon Flake added that the WA Government is already doing this, “We have a Labor Premier who is on the stage saying that we in Western Australia are going to have to increase our emissions to allow others to decrease theirs, that our goal is to decarbonise the world, not just WA. That's quite a remarkable position.”
Industry must do more to educate policymakers and the public.
“We've got to be better with government stakeholders, regulators, with industry in explaining why we're a critical part of the economy,” Paul Everingham said. He stressed the importance of this in gaining shorter approval times and public support from government.
Australia has the resources, but without regulatory reform and public affirmation, it risks falling behind in the energy race. Australia’s LNG future depends on more than just resource, it requires strategic diplomacy, public affirmation, regulatory reform, and industry leadership.
Thank you to our industry dinner event sponsor: Deloitte and our table sponsor Santos.
You can find the event's photo gallery here.