Premier's US visit a success

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Premier Colin Barnett has returned to Western Australian after a 10 day visit to the US to promote the State as a global supplier of energy.

With the primary focus of the trip on the oil and gas industry the Premier said it was an opportunity to “encourage investment into Western Australia and elevate the State’s status on the world stage.”

Western Australia is becoming one of the most significant suppliers of high-quality liquefied natural gas to the international market and right now all eyes are on us. By 2020, WA will be second only to Qatar in terms of LNG exports with volume expecting to treble to 60 million tons,” he said.

During the trip the Premier was invited to present to the James A Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, Houston, Texas. The Baker Institute’s Energy Forum is one of the world’s leading energy policy research programs.

His message was clear; WA is a world leader in the industry supplying 19 percent of the world’s iron ore, 20 per cent of the alumina, 17 percent of the mineral sands and 15 per cent of nickel.

He said, "Whichever way you look at it, the gas reserves off the West Australian coast are world-class and still in their early stages of discovery and development. There is enough gas to transform the West Australian economy and enough gas for export. This is potentially a 100-year resource.”

Mr Barnett’s visit also included Washington D.C. where he met with Australia’s new ambassador to the US Kim Beazley, two US Senators on the Energy and Science committees and the US Department for Energy.

Mr Barnett also visited New York, a “critical source of equity and debt funding” with the aim to increase the profile of WA projects and “give confidence to lenders.” He met with bank and finance representatives as well as environmental organisation the Nature Conservancy, fashion industry representatives.