Energy

BHP Billiton is backing the US gas boom to continue and says exports from there could start within three years, which could be bad news for Australia's rival projects.

Perth-based oil and gas explorer Liquefied Natural Gas has announced plans to raise $15.3 million through a share placement as it looks to advance its Magnolia LNG project in the United States.

Western Australia could receive up to half of the $400 million in national funding set aside for renewable energy projects in regional areas as miners, especially in the Pilbara, embrace the idea of integrating renewables with existing fossil-fuelled generators.

The state government has finalised the acquisition of land at James Price Point for future gas projects, as the industry continues to focus on floating LNG developments, with the Scarborough project gaining environmental approval.

More than 200 workers are to be made redundant at state-owned Western Australian energy company Horizon Power.

Chevron Australia managing director Roy Krzywosinski says he remains wary about floating LNG technology but nonetheless predicts it will become more commonplace unless the costs of onshore developments are reduced.

Shell Australia boss Andrew Smith has defended his company's decision to walk away from an onshore gas development at James Price Point at an at-times heated parliamentary committee inquiry.

Utility giant AGL Energy says Australians want cheap, reliable energy with no impact on the environment but that was not yet technically or economically possible.

Business News' annual export review charts the state's reliance on a handful of major companies and commodities, despite the emergence of new players.

The state government has introduced legislation to merge Synergy and Verve Energy, but is yet to release regulations that will specify how existing contracts between the government entities and the private sector will be protected.

Energy chiefs anticipate a major industry shakeup in the decade ahead as more shale gas and renewable power becomes available.

Alinta Energy has been granted regulatory approval to supply electricity to Hancock Prospecting's $10 billion Roy Hill iron ore project.

Chevron has signed binding long-term sales and purchase agreements with Japanese utility Tohoku Electric Power Company for gas supplied from the $29 billion Wheatstone LNG project.

Western Australia's peak industry body has called on the state government to commit to comprehensive tax and regulatory reforms to get the state's economy back on track.

Programmed Maintenance Services has won a $100 million contract to provide support for work on the Ichthys liqueified natural gas project off the coast of Western Australia.

Origin Energy is headed to court over allegations its door-to-door salespeople harassed and lied to customers.

Western Power has achieved a five per cent reduction in operating costs as it aims to deliver greater efficiencies and a higher standard of service to customers.

The state government has launched plans to modernise century-old water management regulations, as vast mining operations and population growth exert pressure on the state's water resources.

The Liberal-led Western Australian government has contradicted itself, revealing it doesn't have a clear policy for state-owned energy assets, the opposition says.

Dozens of homeowners are assessing the damage, and another 16,000 people are waiting for the power to come back on, after Perth and the South West was battered by a violent storm.

Construction workers who participated in unlawful industrial action at Woodside's Pluto project have been ordered to pay over $1 million in total fines, with some individual fines reaching $10,000.

Curtin University has become the first tertiary institution in Australia or New Zealand to launch a master degree to meet demand for deep-water subsea engineering services.

Energy Minister Mike Nahan has announced the state government will complete its refurbishment of the Muja power station, at which point it will seek to sell at least half of it.

International oil and gas giant Chevron has signed Chris Corrigan's Qube Logistics to beef up its port capacity to service the massive Gorgon project on Barrow Island.

The highly-prospective Browse gas fields off the north-west of the state will be developed using floating liquefied natural gas technology, the project's proponents have confirmed today.

Perth-based fuel technology group Orbital has secured another contract win for the development of production engines for pilotless drone aircraft.

Australia's natural gas industry says it can keep the cash flowing once the mining boom is over, but its vast potential is under threat from excess green tape and a lukewarm political reception.

The Eastern Metropolitan Regional Council has been given the environmental tick of approval to develop a waste-to-energy plant at its Redhill site.

Funding issues may jeopardise a renewable power station proposed for the Mid West town of Morawa, which continues to suffer from an unreliable power supply.

Australia's second largest energy retailer AGL Energy plans to buy smaller rival Australian Power & Gas for about $100 million.

Labor's scrapping of the carbon tax will ease living costs but households shouldn't get too excited.

The Browse Basin is pivotal to the nation's future gas production amid expectations that global demand will double within 17 years, a senior energy figure says.