Plenary 3 Keynote Panel: The rubber hits the road to Net Zero
Wednesday, May 22, 2024 |
8:30 AM - 10:10 AM |
Riverside Theatre, Level 2 |
Overview
While the commitment to net zero is unwavering, emissions reduction policies are starting to bite. The realities of reshaping Australia’s energy economy are becoming apparent and questions are being raised about meeting 2030 targets. Renewable energy projects and massive electricity transmission line projects face increasing community pushback, global sales of electric vehicles are faltering and large-scale renewable-based hydrogen projects are yet to progress beyond announcement. Meanwhile Australia continues to keep CCUS and natural gas on the sidelines of national climate policy and planning despite the clear evidence and global recognition of their importance.
This session poses the questions: how do we deliver the renewable energy, hydrogen and ammonia, gas and CCUS projects at the scale and speed required to get the net zero transformation back on track? What needs to happen for natural gas and CCUS to be properly integrated into Australia’s climate policy? Can Australia’s approach to the net zero transition move from politics and ideology to one based on pragmatism and practicality? And can the trade-offs of the transformation — local vs global, today’s costs vs future impacts, the hype vs the reality — be balanced while maintaining the social license for urgent climate action? Will the doubling down of climate support from Governments around the world, including the massive Inflation Reduction Act in the US, help or hinder Australia’s transformation to net zero?
Jeff Dimery, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Alinta Energy
Kevin Gallagher, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Santos
Laurent Trost, General Manager, Yara Pilbara
Cecile Wake, Senior Vice President Integrated Gas Australia and Country Chair, Shell Australia
Facilitated by Samantha McCulloch, Chief Executive, Australian Energy Producers
Sponsored by
Our Panel
Speakers
Mr Jeff Dimery
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer
Alinta Energy
Keynote Panellist
Biography
Jeff joined Alinta Energy as CEO in 2011 and became Managing Director & CEO in April 2017.
Jeff is a senior figure in the Australian energy sector with around 30 years of experience. He is a former Chair of the Australian Energy Council and current board member.
Jeff was also a founding member of Australia’s Clean Energy Council, having previously served on the Boards of The Renewable Energy Generators of Australia and the Australian Wind Energy Association.
He helped pioneer many of Australia’s earliest renewable energy developments including several wind farms and a large-scale solar project prior to joining Alinta Energy.
Jeff’s formal qualifications include a Bachelor of Business degree from RMIT University and an Executive Programme at IMD in Switzerland.
Jeff is a senior figure in the Australian energy sector with around 30 years of experience. He is a former Chair of the Australian Energy Council and current board member.
Jeff was also a founding member of Australia’s Clean Energy Council, having previously served on the Boards of The Renewable Energy Generators of Australia and the Australian Wind Energy Association.
He helped pioneer many of Australia’s earliest renewable energy developments including several wind farms and a large-scale solar project prior to joining Alinta Energy.
Jeff’s formal qualifications include a Bachelor of Business degree from RMIT University and an Executive Programme at IMD in Switzerland.
Mr Kevin Gallagher
Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer
Santos
Keynote Panellist
Biography
Mr Gallagher joined Santos as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer on 1 February 2016, bringing more than 25 years’ international experience in the oil and gas industry.
Since joining Santos, Mr Gallagher has led significant transformation and growth of the company, delivering a competitive advantage in the energy transition. Under his leadership, Santos is now Australia’s second-largest independent natural gas and liquids producer after implementing a focused strategy to build and grow around five core long-life, producing natural gas assets in Australia, Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste. The strategy has included successful acquisitions of Quadrant Energy and ConocoPhillips’ Australia-West business, and a merger with Oil Search.
Mr Gallagher has implemented a disciplined low-cost operating model and strengthened the balance sheet to support the company’s strategy, creating a strong cash-generative business that has delivered a series of record results. This has propelled Santos into the top-20 ASX list and the top 20 companies in the oil and gas sector globally.
Mr Gallagher has positioned Santos to leverage the critical role natural gas will play in delivering energy security through the energy transition to net-zero emissions. He has implemented a clear decarbonisation strategy building around the company’s existing infrastructure by developing natural gas projects for backfill and growing new revenue streams and reducing emissions through carbon capture and storage, and clean fuels projects such as hydrogen. Under Mr Gallagher’s leadership, Santos has made the world’s first booking of carbon storage reserves and taken a final investment decision on one of the world’s biggest CCS projects in South Australia’s Cooper Basin.
Commencing his career in the oil and gas industry as a drilling engineer in Scotland working with Mobil in the North Sea, Mr Gallagher migrated to Australia to join Woodside in 1998. He was Chief Executive Officer at Clough Limited from 2011 until his appointment at Santos.
Having built a strong, low-cost base business supplying natural gas to meet ongoing customer demand and laid out a clear action plan to develop cleaner energy and clean fuels with an ambitious target of net-zero Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2040, Mr Gallagher is committed to ensuring Santos remains resilient, value accretive and at the leading edge of the energy transition.
Since joining Santos, Mr Gallagher has led significant transformation and growth of the company, delivering a competitive advantage in the energy transition. Under his leadership, Santos is now Australia’s second-largest independent natural gas and liquids producer after implementing a focused strategy to build and grow around five core long-life, producing natural gas assets in Australia, Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste. The strategy has included successful acquisitions of Quadrant Energy and ConocoPhillips’ Australia-West business, and a merger with Oil Search.
Mr Gallagher has implemented a disciplined low-cost operating model and strengthened the balance sheet to support the company’s strategy, creating a strong cash-generative business that has delivered a series of record results. This has propelled Santos into the top-20 ASX list and the top 20 companies in the oil and gas sector globally.
Mr Gallagher has positioned Santos to leverage the critical role natural gas will play in delivering energy security through the energy transition to net-zero emissions. He has implemented a clear decarbonisation strategy building around the company’s existing infrastructure by developing natural gas projects for backfill and growing new revenue streams and reducing emissions through carbon capture and storage, and clean fuels projects such as hydrogen. Under Mr Gallagher’s leadership, Santos has made the world’s first booking of carbon storage reserves and taken a final investment decision on one of the world’s biggest CCS projects in South Australia’s Cooper Basin.
Commencing his career in the oil and gas industry as a drilling engineer in Scotland working with Mobil in the North Sea, Mr Gallagher migrated to Australia to join Woodside in 1998. He was Chief Executive Officer at Clough Limited from 2011 until his appointment at Santos.
Having built a strong, low-cost base business supplying natural gas to meet ongoing customer demand and laid out a clear action plan to develop cleaner energy and clean fuels with an ambitious target of net-zero Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2040, Mr Gallagher is committed to ensuring Santos remains resilient, value accretive and at the leading edge of the energy transition.
Mr Laurent Trost
General Manager
Yara Pilbara
Keynote Panellist
Biography
Laurent Trost is the General Manager of Yara Pilbara which operates one of the world’s largest ammonia plants. The plant also provides the feedstock for an adjacent technical ammonium nitrate plant supplying a critical ingredient to Pilbara mines.
Yara Pilbara is actively advancing its decarbonisation journey as both an early industry mover in utilising renewable hydrogen to create green ammonia, as well as pursuing carbon capture and storage technologies to swiftly cut emissions.
Laurent is a chemical engineer whose career has taken him to Belgium, South Africa, Brazil, Russia and France.
Before taking on his current position in late 2020, Laurent was the general manager of Yara’s production operations in Cartagena, Colombia.
Yara Pilbara is actively advancing its decarbonisation journey as both an early industry mover in utilising renewable hydrogen to create green ammonia, as well as pursuing carbon capture and storage technologies to swiftly cut emissions.
Laurent is a chemical engineer whose career has taken him to Belgium, South Africa, Brazil, Russia and France.
Before taking on his current position in late 2020, Laurent was the general manager of Yara’s production operations in Cartagena, Colombia.
Ms Cecile Wake
Country Chair and Senior Vice President Integrated Gas
Shell Australia
Keynote Panellist
Biography
Cecile became Country Chair and Senior Vice President Integrated Gas of Shell Australia in May 2023. She brings 25 years of international experience in LNG, oil and gas project development and operations and mergers and acquisitions. Previously Cecile was CEO of Arrow Energy, Shell’s joint venture with PetroChina, which she commenced in 2020. She has also held senior commercial leadership roles at Shell Australia, where she was VP Commercial and New Business Development, and as Growth Director with BG Group, prior to its acquisition by Shell.
Before joining Shell and BG Group, Cecile was a corporate partner at the leading international law firm Herbert Smith Freehills in London for nine years. Her corporate energy practice focused on complex cross-border oil, gas and LNG project development, high-value mergers and acquisition transactions in the energy and mining sectors and long-term sales arrangements for oil, gas and LNG.
Outside Shell, Cecile is a Board Director of Australian Energy Producers and a member of the Senate of the University of Queensland, where she serves on the Finance and Campus Infrastructure Committees.
Cecile has a Bachelor of Economics and a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from The University of Queensland. She represented Australia at seven World Championships and multiple World Cups in the sport of Modern Pentathlon between 1995 - 2001. Cecile and her husband, Alex, have two children and live in Brisbane.
Before joining Shell and BG Group, Cecile was a corporate partner at the leading international law firm Herbert Smith Freehills in London for nine years. Her corporate energy practice focused on complex cross-border oil, gas and LNG project development, high-value mergers and acquisition transactions in the energy and mining sectors and long-term sales arrangements for oil, gas and LNG.
Outside Shell, Cecile is a Board Director of Australian Energy Producers and a member of the Senate of the University of Queensland, where she serves on the Finance and Campus Infrastructure Committees.
Cecile has a Bachelor of Economics and a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from The University of Queensland. She represented Australia at seven World Championships and multiple World Cups in the sport of Modern Pentathlon between 1995 - 2001. Cecile and her husband, Alex, have two children and live in Brisbane.
Ms Samantha McCulloch
Chief Executive
Australian Energy Producers
Facilitator
Biography
Samantha McCulloch is the Chief Executive of Australian Energy Producers, the peak national body representing Australia’s explorers, developers and producers of essential energy - oil, gas and lower-emission fuels.
An internationally recognised carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) expert, Ms McCulloch has a highly informed view of the critical role the oil and gas industry continues to play in meeting global energy and climate goals.
Before joining APPEA in 2022, she spent seven years at the International Energy Agency including four years as head of the CCUS Unit.
Ms McCulloch has more than 20 years of policy, industry and technical expertise from previous roles within government, industry associations and the private sector in Australia and internationally.
She holds a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) and Bachelor of Commerce (with Distinction) from the University of Wollongong, as well as a Master of Public Policy from the Australian National University.
An internationally recognised carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) expert, Ms McCulloch has a highly informed view of the critical role the oil and gas industry continues to play in meeting global energy and climate goals.
Before joining APPEA in 2022, she spent seven years at the International Energy Agency including four years as head of the CCUS Unit.
Ms McCulloch has more than 20 years of policy, industry and technical expertise from previous roles within government, industry associations and the private sector in Australia and internationally.
She holds a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) and Bachelor of Commerce (with Distinction) from the University of Wollongong, as well as a Master of Public Policy from the Australian National University.