Mining billionaire Gina Rinehart has criticized the Albanian government’s sustainable energy strategy, saying fossil fuels are Australia’s “rational” option to keep the lights on while securing a huge gas deal.
Ms Rinehart’s company, Hancock Prospecting, announced on Thursday it has purchased the Lockyer/North Erregulla Conventional Gas Project, located in Western Australia’s mid-west Perth Basin, as part of a $1.1 billion deal with the previous owner MinRes.
The Lockyer project significantly expands Hancock’s footprint in the Perth Basin, after the company purchased half of the adjacent West Erregulla gas field in 2023, giving it rights over potentially large, high-quality untapped oil and gas reserves.
Ms Rinehart told Daily Mail Australia on Thursday that projects like these are critical to Australia’s future because “so-called renewable energy” can only generate electricity for solar 10 to 25 percent of the time and up to a third of the time for electricity. wind.
“Gas can produce electricity much more reliably, even when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow,” said Ms. Rinehart, executive chairman of Hancock.
‘Every rational observer recognizes the need for more gas supply.’
She labeled renewables as “so-called” because she stated that they were “actually more mineral-intensive than fossil fuels, and those minerals have to be continually found and developed, they don’t ‘renew’ themselves every year.”
She said the “old but true laws of supply and demand cannot be changed” with Australia hungry for more and more gas as its share of electricity generation grows.
Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, has signed a massive $1 billion oil and gas drilling deal, saying it’s the only ‘rational’ energy source that keeps the lights on
“Without additional supply, prices will rise, hurting consumers and businesses who need gas as a reliable source of energy and baseload electricity generation,” Ms Rinehart said.
Ms Rinehart, Australia’s richest person with a fortune estimated at more than $40 billion, said the federal government is driving investors away from natural resource projects, including gas.
“Reducing unnecessarily complex and duplicative tape and redundant regulations can stimulate investment,” she said.
However, Ms Rinehart did commend WA Cook’s government for making ‘some efforts’ to ‘reduce tape and duplication’ and encouraging investment by allowing onshore gas to be sold as exports at a higher price.
Hancock prospect has acquired the Lockyer/North Erregulla Conventional Gas Project in WA’s Perth Basin
The deal makes Hancock Prospecting one of the largest oil and gas rights holders in WA’s onshore region
With Collie State’s coal-fired power station set to close in 2030, Mr Rinehart said “gas generation will become critical to keeping the lights on in WA”.
Mr Hancock said the aim was to bring the Lockyer project into production more quickly to get gas to market as quickly as possible.
Mr Rinehart’s company will also form new joint partnerships with MinRes, founded and managed by fellow billionaire Chris Ellison.
As part of the deal, Hancock will also purchase half of 50 percent of the remaining petroleum acreage that MinRes owns in the Perth Basin and the Carnarvon Basin, as well as half of MinRes’ ‘Explorer’ drilling rig.
This makes Hancock one of the largest oil and gas acreage holders in onshore WA.
“Hancock welcomes the opportunity to partner with Chris Ellison and MinRes in our newly established exploration joint ventures in the Perth and Carnarvon Basins, where we hope to one day discover the next Lockyer together,” said Garry Korte, CEO of Hancock .
Instead of renewables, Ms Rinehart previously said Australia should follow in the footsteps of her “pro-energy security friend” who says “drill baby, drill”, a mantra used by Mr Trump, who is running as the Republican nominee to regain the office he has. lost in 2020.
“We have so much natural gas in Australia, and if we decide not to use our vast coal reserves, let’s at least make use of our gas reserves,” Ms Rinehart said.
‘Natural gas is needed as a raw material for production and processing, in addition to its use to generate electricity for homes, offices, hospitals, shopping centers, hotels, restaurants, traffic lights, schools, sports and entertainment centers.
While Ms Rinehart said that while Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s plan to install more nuclear power involved a “proven” energy source, it was “more than a decade away” or even 20 years due to “red tape and approvals”
“Those who don’t want to use gas, let them choose not to use it, but let those who want reliable energy get it.”
“Let’s develop our vast natural gas resources and supply as much gas as we need,” Ms. Rinehart said.