Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Australia faces an “acute” challenge in keeping its position as one of the world’s leading energy suppliers in the face of Donald Trump’s push to increase fossil fuel output, the head of the country’s largest oil and gas producer has warned.
Meg O’Neill, chief executive of Woodside Energy, issued the warning on Thursday at the Melbourne Mining Club, where she argued that Australia “loses on every front” to the US due to higher taxes and labour costs and environmental regulations.
“Australia is not competing,” she said, pointing to what she called ideological opposition by some state governments to new oil and gas projects and layers of environmental and permitting regulations that have delayed installations needed to meet domestic energy needs.
“Australian companies of the future will need reliable, affordable energy,” she said, pointing to the Trump administration’s efforts to deregulate the sector and spur new energy investment. “In a country as lucky and resource-rich as Australia, it would be a major policy failure if we are not able to achieve this.
“Amid rising global protectionism and even greater competition for capital, Australia must sharpen its competitive advantage,” O’Neill added.
Australia is set to hold a national election by May 17, and O’Neill expected energy to be at the centre of the campaign amid a cost of living crisis. Australian consumers have been saddled with higher electricity prices due to rising wholesale costs, leading the government to introduce subsidies.
But O’Neill said prices would rise further in the coming years as dwindling domestic supply forces some states to import gas for the first time. “Australia’s energy security and ongoing national prosperity are what’s at stake,” she said.
Woodside, which has a market capitalisation of A$47bn (US$29.5bn), has emerged as Australia’s largest oil and gas company after it merged with BHP’s energy assets in 2022. It produces liquefied natural gas — Australia’s most lucrative export behind iron ore and coal — off the coast of Western Australia and in the southern Bass Strait between mainland Australia and Tasmania.
Australia, alongside the US and Qatar, is one of the world’s largest global suppliers of natural gas, accounting for a fifth of global LNG trade. About 90 per cent of the country’s LNG exports are sent to Asian countries, according to government data, notably Japan and South Korea.
But O’Neill warned that Australia’s reputation as a reliable trading partner in Asia was “wobbling” due to interventionist policies by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s Labor government, such as price caps and export controls to protect domestic supply.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump has sought to roll back his predecessor’s green energy agenda and increase natural LNG exports.
Woodside has expanded internationally since 2021, including in the US, where it completed two large acquisitions last year. O’Neill said this international focus was partly due to the speed of approval for new projects in markets outside Australia and what she called “wishful thinking” in the debate around the country’s energy transition.
She highlighted the company’s struggle to extend an existing project in Western Australia, which is still awaiting final approval from the government six years after it was proposed.
