Energy markets will continue to be impacted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas conflict, according to Woodside Energy Group, Australia’s largest oil and gas producer
“The fallout has been massive, and the volatility is not over,” CEO Meg O’Neill said in a text of a speech to the Australian Energy Producers Conference scheduled for Tuesday in Perth. “It is instability absolutely nobody wants.”
While oil and gas have retreated after spiking following the invasion in early 2022, they remain elevated. Liquefied natural gas prices are currently at the highest level since early January, and Brent, the global oil benchmark, has risen around 10% this year.
Recent challenges mean there’s a need to provide consumers with better security of supply, a factor that’s supporting the outlook for natural gas along with rising energy demand in economies across Asia, O’Neill said.
Australia’s government this month backed the development of new gas resources, arguing production of the fossil fuel will be necessary to sustain the nation’s export sector and also to avoid domestic energy shortfalls as coal plants are shuttered.
“To my mind the best solution to a shortage is always supply, supply, supply,” O’Neill said in the speech notes. Woodside is advancing developments including the $12 billion Scarborough LNG project in Australia, she said.