Realities of Energy Production

The global supply of crude oil, the energy source which enabled the transport revolution in the 20th Century, is finite. Some of the world’s major oil producing nations have already passed their peak oil production rate; in the USA, this occurred in 1972.

While there is speculation about when global oil production will peak, most analysts believe it will be within the next few decades. Australia passed its peak production rate in 2001 and the chart below shows the predicted deficit. At today’s oil prices, this will contribute about A$20 Billion to the national import bill.


Chart courtesy of Australian Petroleum Producers and Explorers Association.
Victoria has vast reserves of brown coal which can be mined at a very low cost.

For more than fifty years this has provided the vast majority of the State’s electricity needs. The technology exists today to transform this coal into extremely high quality transport fuels.

The challenge is to produce oil (and power) from coal while also lowering CO2 emissions to an acceptable level. Fortunately, Victoria has extensive high quality sedimentary basins where the CO2 can be securely stored for millennia in a process known as Carbon Capture and Storage. The proximity of the source of much of the nation’s CO2 to the potential storage areas in the Bass Strait oil and gas fields creates a comparative advantage for the State.



This fortuitous combination can put Victoria at the forefront in developing a new source of transport fuel while minimising emissions. Monash Energy is the vehicle to place Victoria at the forefront of global energy and environmental innovation, with tremendous capacity for further adaptation.

Chart courtesy of Australian Petroleum Producers and Explorers Association