More Australia oil exploration needed

More Australia oil exploration needed

Australia is the oil and the poor must intensify exploration in the context of efforts aimed at ensuring the country’s energy security, the federal Minister of Energy says Martin Ferguson.

There are hundreds of years, the value of coal and gas, but only one to two decades of known resources of oil and condensate, he said.

“The need for policy frameworks that encourage exploration is most evident in the oil sector where our future depends on the search for Australia next Bass Strait,” he said at an energy forum in Sydney.

The minister said that his department is the development of policy options for accelerating both mineral and petroleum exploration.

“In the last part of 2008, I will be for the government to advance the consideration of a package of proposals to increase efforts to explore Australia.

“In the absence of new discoveries of oil, Australia could face a trade deficit of petroleum products by over 25 billion dollars by 2015 and domestic production of oil could be as little as 20 percent of our needs compared to 80 percent in the 1990′s. ”

Mr. Ferguson warned exploration would be more costly and risky because the “easy oil” has already been won.

Calling climate change the most important policy challenge in the energy sector, he said, the government address the issue without being economically irresponsible.

“We are committed to reduce emissions at a lower cost, while maintaining adequate, reliable and affordable energy supplies and the international competitiveness of industries in Australia.”

The design of an emissions trading system was arguably the biggest challenge of the government’s first term, “said Ferguson.

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