The NSW Government has declared the Port Kembla Gas terminal as Critical State Significant Infrastructure (CSSI).
The State Government’s award of CSSI status was warmly welcomed today by Mr Andrew Forrest AO, the lead investor in the Australian Industrial Energy consortium (AIE), which is developing the Port Kembla Gas Terminal. Mr Andrew Forrest’s Squadron Energy, is investing in AIE alongside Japan’s JERA Inc. and Marubeni Corporation.
Mr Forrest said: “Today’s announcement of CSSI status for AIE’s Port Kembla Gas Terminal is a powerful demonstration of the Berejiklian Government’s commitment to solving the State’s critical gas security challenges.
“Australian manufacturers have asked us to work with them to solve their future gas supply issues and skyrocketing prices, which threaten their viability.”
“We look forward to smartly overcoming those threats to business by developing the gas terminal in the shortest possible time-frame,” Mr Forrest said.
The PKGT has the potential to deliver significant energy security benefits to NSW. The LNG import terminal can provide in excess of 70% of NSW’s annual gas needs and has enough on-board storage capacity to meet all of NSW’s gas needs for 10 – 12 days, in the event of inter-state supply disruptions.
CSSI designation for the PKGT is not an approval for the project. It is a framework that sets out a clear approval pathway, which includes comprehensive environmental, safety, social and economic assessment process, before any development consent is considered.
AIE Chief Executive Officer, Mr James Baulderstone, said: “Obtaining CSSI designation is a strong endorsement for the concept of Australia’s leading LNG import terminal, which has the potential to transform the Australian east coast gas and power markets.
This import terminal will provide NSW with both a new, competitive source of gas and the ability to be essentially self-reliant for its future gas requirements, without having to rely on whether gas resources in other states are actually developed or whether such resources can deliver sufficient, affordable new gas supply.
