The Australian: Russian gas deal spurs call to embrace FLNG

Russia’s landmark deal to sell gas to China has increased the need for Australia to embrace contentious floating ­liquefied natural gas technology, former federal resources minister Gary Gray says.

Russia and China last week signed a long-anticipated agreement that will see huge volumes of gas pumped into China, with the new source set to vie with LNG in the growing Chinese gas market.

Mr Gray said that with the price of gas becoming a bigger issue for many LNG consumers, Australia’s LNG industry needed to innovate to avoid being squeezed out by alternative sources of supply.

“The deal announced this week between Russia and China, which was 10 years in the making and which many said would never happen, will see Russia pipe 38 billion cubic metres of natural gas to China each year for 30 years,” Mr Gray told the Australian Mines and Metals Association conference in Perth yesterday. MORE