Both speakers said that Australia is set to become a major global supplier, also noting on the demand side that China will play a key role in how the LNG market develops.

Mr Karev said “China is forecast to overtake the United States soon after 2025 to become the world’s largest spender on oil and gas imports.

“In addition, India is expected to surpass Japan to become the third largest importer globally.

“Australia is well placed to play an important role in the paradigm shift from west to east because of its geographic location and rapidly expanding LNG sector,” Mr Karev said.

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Mr Goswami said that gross domestic product growth is increasing the power requirements of South East Asia, which will lead to the need for a new energy supply to the area from 2012. He noted that Australian exploration and production companies are well-placed to cater for that demand.

Mr Karev said that although the outlook was good for the Australian LNG industry, it is likely to be challenged in the years ahead in four areas: access to resources including human capital, demand saturation, supply glut, and project cost overruns.

However, Mr Karev said that “Provided it gets the regulatory settings right and manages the resourcing constraints and other challenges effectively, Australia should continue as the preferred source of many raw materials that will help the region fuels its future economic growth.”