‘Held to ransom': Esso-BHP gas production drop to be examined by ACCC

The competition watchdog will demand ESSO and BHP Billiton explain in more detail why gas supplies from its Bass Strait joint venture will decline sharply next year amid concerns the nation is "being held to ransom”.

Under scrutiny: A big drop in expected gas
 supplies from the Bass Strait has the ACCC
drilling for more information.

There are also calls for acting resources minister Barnaby Joyce to make public a study into offshore gas resources he has had for more than a month that could shed light on the venture's future.

The Turnbull government has so far blamed soaring gas prices on governments in Victoria and NSW for blocking or stalling on new gasfields, and in Queensland for allowing excessive LNG exports.

But by far the biggest contributor to the projected national shortfall of 55-108 petajoules of gas in 2018 will be the 86pj drop from the Esso-BHP's record output of 330pj  this year, according to a recent  Australian Competition and Consumer Commission report.

Read Peter Hannam’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “‘Held to ransom': Esso-BHP gas production drop to be examined by ACCC.”

'Outrageous': Coal mine gets expansion nod despite secret, incomplete studies

Fitter David Crehan stands near a long
wall shearer at the Dendrobium mine 
 at Mount Kembla.

The Baird government has approved the expansion of the most aggressive coal mine in the Special Areas of Greater Sydney's catchment despite not knowing the compounding impact it will have on water supplies.

South32 won approval for two more 305 metre-wide longwalls at its Dendrobium mine, extracting coal from underneath the Metropolitan Special Area which was created to protect the waters of the Avon, Cataract, Cordeaux and Nepean reservoirs.

The company, which was spun out of BHP Billiton, hailed the go-ahead as securing as many as 400 jobs. The coking coal produced at the mine supplies a steel mill in nearby Wollongong and export markets.

Read Peter Hannam’s story in The Sydney Morning Herald - “'Outrageous': Coal mine gets expansion nod despite secret, incomplete studies.”

BHP Billion denies the facts and pushes for profits

M

any astute scientists and other well informed observers suggest a two degree increase in temperatures will make life on earth difficult for many and impossible for others.

Chanting the world corporation chorus that all will be well even in a warmer world, BHP has assured investors that the company’s growth and returns will be little affected by climate change.

A story in today’s Melbourne Age - “BHP Billiton says earnings would still double in '2 degrees Celsius world'” – says the company shrugs off climate change fears.