Australia’s LNG Industry Warns Policy Uncertainty Is Hurting Investment

By Tsvetana Paraskova - May 24, 2026

• Australian LNG producers are urging Canberra to speed up project approvals, maintain fiscal stability, and avoid tougher taxes to support new gas supply and investment.
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• The industry sees the Iran war and disrupted Qatari LNG exports as a major opportunity for Australia to strengthen its role as a reliable LNG supplier to Asia.
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• Executives warn that policy uncertainty, export debates, and regulatory delays could undermine Australia’s long-term energy security and global competitiveness.
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Australia’s energy producers are calling for state and federal support in faster approvals of new projects and fiscal stability. These could help the world’s third-biggest LNG exporter grow its overseas markets amid the expected years-long turmoil in the global gas market in the wake of the Iran war.

Producers want long-term predictability in taxation, as well as faster permitting processes and environmental reviews from the state and federal governments. As a whole, the industry seeks clarity and certainty that would incentivize producers to invest in new supply to meet growing demand for gas in Australia and the region, which Australia is ideally positioned to serve—Asia’s growing gas and LNG markets.

The current global LNG crisis, created by the loss of Qatar’s LNG supply due to the closed Strait of Hormuz and Iranian missile attacks on Qatari LNG infrastructure, is an opportunity for Australia to bolster its position as a reliable supplier, industry executives said at the Australian Energy Producers’ annual Conference and Exhibition this week.

“For Australia, the crisis has underscored the enormous advantage of having a strong domestic gas and LNG industry,” Cecile Wake, Chair of the Australian Energy Producers association, said in an address to conference attendees.

“Australia’s national interest is best served when we have a well-supplied, affordable and efficient domestic gas market AND a thriving LNG export industry,” Wake said, noting that increasing new supply is the key to achieving both objectives.

While there has been some progress at the state and federal level in advancing projects in recent months, more needs to be done by governments to support investment in new oil and gas supply, the Australian energy executives say.

At the end of April, the state of New South Wales launched the first natural gas exploration tender in ten years amid a supply crunch caused by the war in the Middle East.

The federal government has also just ruled out controls on exports of natural gas during the third quarter of 2026, as industry and experts have assured the government that the most vulnerable East Coast will not see any supply shortages between the winter months of July and September.

Australia’s decision not to implement gas export controls in the third quarter is good news for the global LNG market, which suddenly found itself in a major shortage after the Iran war crippled the Middle East’s LNG exports, with tight markets now expected to last much longer than previously thought.

For the long term, Australian producers need predictability and a strong oil and gas sector to protect energy security at home and help allies with LNG supply abroad, the executives say.

“It should not take a global energy crisis to recognize the significant strategic and economic advantage Australia holds from having a strong oil, gas and LNG sector,” Australian Energy Producers’ Wake said at the annual conference.

The industry will continue to provide reliable energy, but it asks policymakers to “provide the policy stability, internationally competitive settings, and project approval certainty to give our industry confidence to invest,” Wake added.

Kevin Gallagher, chief executive at one of Australia’s biggest oil and gas producers, Santos, warned that debates on the gas conservation policy expected from 2027 and on whether the industry should be taxed more could undermine investments in the Australian energy sector.

“This is a sliding doors moment for Australia, an opportunity to cement and bolster our country’s credibility as a predictable long-term destination for global capital, as a trading partner and as a country that understands prosperity is built over decades, not three-year cycles,” Gallagher said at the conference, as carried by The West Australian.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com