The SMH has been on something of a campaign for public transport this weekend. One article noted that one key to encouraging higher use of public transport is having frequent service - Give them a bus or train every 10 minutes and they will come.

THE NSW Government could do Sydney's public transport-starved residents a favour by postponing the controversial $5.3 billion underground Metro through the CBD and investing in some quick fixes, an international transport expert says.

The director of the International Union of Public Transport Australia-New Zealand, Peter Moore, said the Government should extend the heavy rail system, establish rapid transitways for buses in the outer suburbs and build light rail within a 10-kilometre radius of the city. ...

The Age reports that the Exxon has signed up its first customer for LNG from the Gorogn field off WA, with India's Petronet LNG signing a 20-year agreement to take gas from the project (First Australia-India long-term LNG deal reached).

Under the agreement, Exxon will supply about 1.5 million tonnes per annum from its 25% share of LNG from the project over 20 years (the project as a whole will produce 15 million tonnes a year) - the gas will be delivered to Petronet's new LNG terminal under construction at Kochi in southern India.

WA Environment Minister Donna Faragher has given final environmental approval for the proposed development on Barrow Island, removing one of the remaining obstacles to construction (Green light for Gorgon in time for lucrative deal), and the local press is already reporting on some of the activity required to support the construction of the project (Hercules to airlift Gorgon materials).

Federal Environment minister Peter Garrett also needs to approve the project, though given his recent stance on large scale energy developments he seems unlikely to oppose it (Chevron set to go ahead with big gas project). The Australian reports the project partners are aiming to tick off on developing Gorgon in mid-September. If approved, Gorgon will be the largest Australian resources project and, as federal Resources Minister Martin Ferguson has pointed out, will provide a greater investment than the Rudd government's $42bn stimulus package.

Annual sales from Gorgon would be worth around $12.5bn at current prices and would boost the nation's mineral and energy revenues by 10 per cent, based on government export forecasts for this year (as I've noted previously if all of Australia's proposed gas developments proceed - especially if we include coal seam gas - we'll have to be wary of the "dutch disease").

The Gorgon plant will have three 5 million tonnes a year LNG trains and will produce LNG using the 40 trillion cubic feet of gas in the two Greater Gorgon fields.

The fields, Gorgon and Io/Janz, contain Australia's biggest gas reserves and are expected to support the project, which will start production in 2014 and ramp up to full output 18 months later, for more than 40 years.

The strangest and most unsettling aspect of the project is that the federal government and WA state government will bear the costs for any problems related to sequestration of carbon dioxide from the project in future years, which seems like a spectacularly risky bet for taxpayers over the long run - (Gorgon deal on carbon).

In other Australian gas news, Gas Today has a report on the various projects under consideration further north in the Browse Basin (Browsing gas fields).

And the UK Daily Telegraph has a report on Shell's bid the purchase the rest of coal seam gas producer Arrow Energy (Royal Dutch Shell tables £1.5bn bid for Australia's Arrow Energy).

Gas Today also has a look at the wisdom of exporting LNG in such large quantities over the long term and what this means for local gas consumers (Are we exporting our energy future?).

Australia.to has a report on an upgrade to the low temperature geothermal power plant at Birdsville in Queensland - Bligh invests up to $4.3 million in new geothermal power station for Birdsville.

Birdsville's landmark geothermal power station will be upgraded to produce more clean energy for the remote south western Queensland community.

Mines and Energy Minister Stephen Robertson said today the Bligh Government is investing up to $4.3 million to help replace ageing equipment at the Ergon Energy-owned and operated plant. The funding will provide a 50 per cent subsidy for the project which will invest in new, leading edge geothermal technology.

"The Birdsville geothermal power station is the only one of its kind in Australia to tap into this clean renewable energy source to provide emission-free power," Mr Robertson said. "The plant draws its energy from near-boiling water taken deep from within the Great Artesian Basin that supplies water for the town. The power station currently generates about 30 per cent of Birdsville's energy supplies. It's also helping the local environment by reducing greenhouse gas emissions by about 400 tonnes a year and diesel fuel consumption by approximately 160,000 litres." ...

Introduction

An election commitment of the Rudd Labor Government was to develop an assessment of Australia’s future energy security. This resulted in the release of the National Energy Security Assessment (NESA) in March 2009. The liquid fuels section of the NESA was largely based on the findings of ACIL Tasman’s Liquid Fuel Vulnerability Assessment (LFVA).

Given the importance of liquid fuels to both the global and Australian economy, it is reasonable to expect that the Australian Government would provide a realistic appraisal of Australia’s future liquid fuels security. Both the LFVA and the NESA fail to address key questions resulting in a liquid fuels security assessment that is overly optimistic. This post will explore the key weaknesses of the NESA and LFVA and propose an alternate, more realistic assessment of Australia’s liquid fuels security.