APPEA 2021 Wrap-Up – Challenges Ahead, But A Sector Determined to Succeed
You never really know how much you miss something until it is taken away. Throughout 2020 the ability to network, form relationships, and engage with partners and stakeholders suffered as the events and conferences that mean so much to our industry were cancelled.
That’s why our team was delighted to attend and support The 2021 APPEA Conference and Exhibition held in Perth last week. For everyone involved, it was the perfect chance to reconnect, hear from industry leaders and politicians and dive into the issues, challenges and opportunities that the Oil & Gas industry faces in the years ahead.
So what were the key highlights for Lidiar Group’s Darren Cave and Niall Callan? We caught up with them to find out.
“The key takeaway for me is the pressing need for transformation,” said Darren. “The Australian oil and gas industry are acutely aware that they need to evolve into more than just fossil fuel producers. While fossil fuels are necessary to provide energy in the short term, there is social pressure to move beyond that as quickly as possible and much of the conference focussed on the pressing need to change.”
But change will require significant development and support, particularly in the utilisation of hydrogen as a clean energy source, ” It is now very clear that Hydrogen is likely to be a major part of the transition to clean energy, but there is significant work to do to support the sector’s development.”
“At the same time as we develop production at scale, we need to ensure that there is investment made in the development of a market to support production – develop, design, build and test products that will use it.. Commercial viability will only be possible if demand matches development, as this will enable scale and growth. I look forward to seeing how we leverage the opportunity to integrate hydrogen into Australia’s energy mix.”
Another key issue is the management of existing assets that have approached their end-of-life. “I think that everyone understands that the NOGA Northern Endeavour decommissioning debacle was a wake-up call to us all. The rehabilitation of legacy assets for developers and owners is an ongoing liability that will need to be addressed. Divestment will no longer be part of the strategy when looking to get rid of old, underperforming assets; therefore, a new approach is needed,” said Darren.
Australia’s move towards a cleaner future was the key highlight of the conference for Niall, who hopes the time is right for positive change. “It was encouraging to see the push towards a cleaner future being a central theme of APPEA 2021. Australia is a long way behind our counterparts across the globe, and I think everyone acknowledges that we have to catch up and move ahead.”
But while talk and intent were positive steps, Niall believes that without a concrete plan, change will not be realised at the pace the community demands. “I am concerned, however, that there wasn’t a solid plan on the how. We see pressure on the large companies to do more but not much on what will need to change for the end-users. More has to be done regarding government intervention around lowering the demand for fossil fuels to favour cleaner options at the ground level.”
The complex issue of carbon neutrality was another critical consideration for Niall. “We have to ask the questions ‘Are we simply replacing one issue for another?'”
“Renewable energy and zero emissions fuels are something we need to move toward, but we also need to be honest about the terms we use. The solar panels required to support hydrogen production will mean mining (copper, silicon) at levels unseen to date. The steel required for the piles and arrays will require mining, a challenge as steel fabrication is high on the list of Carbon polluters. Lithium will be required in unheralded quantities to produce the batteries needed to store energy at solar farms; although it has a lesser environmental impact, it is not without its challenges. It is an incorrect assumption to believe that some of the clean energy solutions being promoted won’t have an environmental impact,” said Niall.
But for each challenge posed, the mood of delegates was positive, and there was an air of confidence that as a sector, Oil& Gas can and will innovate, will address the challenges and be a significant player in the transition to net zero emissions.
“We know the pressure is on to change how we operate as an industry and to drive innovation. confident that we will see some exciting developments in the next ten years that will enable the industry to flourish and to support the transition to a cleaner future,” said Niall.