00:02The Browse gas project has been spruiked for decades.
00:05Well, this is the greatest opportunity for that part of the Kimberley that we have ever had.
00:12Browse is going to be an incredibly important asset, particularly in the 2030s.
00:17Despite plenty of criticism,
00:20the government's arguing it's more important than ever,
00:24with the energy market operator predicting a gas shortfall in WA from 2030,
00:28despite the state's 15% gas reservation policy.
00:32If you're not going to do Browse, but you're going to meet that shortfall,
00:37where is that shortfall going to come from?
00:39The estimates are based on predictions by the gas companies themselves.
00:43Research and advocacy group, the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility,
00:47has crunched the numbers to provide a different view.
00:50We looked at actual physical constraints on the system
00:52as opposed to the commercial preferences of the gas exporting companies.
00:56We found there is enough gas.
00:58It would mean companies like Woodside exporting less,
01:01an unlikely prospect according to an industry veteran
01:04who spent more than a decade at the company.
01:07Because export markets get higher prices,
01:10and because their whole development has been arranged, engineered, designed,
01:15to support that mix of LNG and domestic gas.
01:19A Woodside spokesperson didn't respond directly to the report,
01:23but said Browse remains the only realistic way of meeting WA's looming gas shortfall.
01:28A state government spokesperson says the project is the largest potential source of future gas for WA,
01:34and that interfering in export contracts could threaten the viability of projects,
01:39potentially leading to higher prices and fewer jobs.
01:42The Centre for Corporate Responsibility says it didn't look at the economics of any policy change,
01:48just whether it would be possible.
01:50We think it significantly changes how state and federal governments should be thinking about the BOWSE project.
01:56When I look to 2032 and beyond,
01:59it's really only BOWSE that can fill what is forecast to be that gap between demand and supply.
02:04Both state and federal environmental regulators are currently reviewing the project.
02:09Intercept.
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02:11.
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