Australian Pipelines and Gas Association (APGA) Chief Executive Cheryl Cartwright said figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) publication Energy Use, Electricity Generation and Environmental Management Australia 2014-15 (cat no. 4660.0) demonstrated that gas is an essential part of Australia’s industry.
The figures showed that gas supplies more energy to Australia industry than any other fuel source.
“The ABS found that gas, including both natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas, provided 802 PJ of energy to industry in 2014-15,” said Ms Cartwright.
“Over the same period, the second and third energy sources – diesel and electricity (including electricity generated from gas) – provided 666 PJ and 503 PJ respectively to industry.
“Importantly, those 802 PJ of gas cost industry a total of $5 billion, while the cost of the diesel and electricity was much higher: 666 PJ of diesel cost industry $19.8 billion and 503 PJ of electricity cost industry $19 billion.
“That means a delivered gigajoule (GJ) of gas costs industry an average of $6.17/GJ in 2014-15 while industry paid an average of $29.13/GJ for diesel and $37.78/GJ for electricity; that’s a massive difference.
“Gas, diesel and electricity are all used differently by industry.
“These figures are a reminder that industries looking to maintain local and international competitiveness should be using gas in as many applications possible.
“And as it has half the carbon emissions of coal-fired electricity, using gas rather than electricity will help the nation reduce emissions.
“In particular, these figures demonstrate that gas is a critical contributor to Australian industry and the idea that the energy it supplies can be replaced easily or cheaply is unrealistic.
“With the continuing tight gas supply and higher than normal prices, it is necessary for all parts of the gas industry and government to come together to address the real challenge: increasing gas supply to apply downward pressure on prices for the benefit of all.”
You can read the ABS publication here.
