RESOURCES

Australia has large identified resources of uranium, coal and natural gas. It has the world's largest economic demonstrated resources (EDR) of uranium and brown coal and is ranked 5th in the world for black coal. For more detailed information on Australia's energy and mineral resources, see chapter 18 MINING.

Australia has substantial resources of high quality black coal. At June 2010, the EDR of black coal (table 19.2) totalled 1,288,200 petajoules (PJ), with most of these resources located in New South Wales and Queensland. Small black coal resources occur in Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania. Large brown coal deposits are mainly located in Victoria with other deposits in Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania.

At June 2010, the EDR of natural gas totalled 134,504 petajoules, with the Carnarvon Basin accounting for nearly 60% of total reserves. Map 19.1 shows the extent of access to gas resources and major transmission pipelines in Australia. The total length of Australia's natural gas transmission and reticulation pipeline system as at June 2010 was 114,000 kilometres.

In the period 2000 to 2010, the EDR of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), crude oil, and brown coal each decreased, while the EDR of black coal, condensate, natural gas and uranium increased. Changes in EDRs can result from production activity, new discoveries or the reclassification of existing resources.

19.2 ECONOMIC DEMONSTRATED RESOURCES OF PRIMARY ENERGY PRODUCTS(a)—30 June
	2000	2010	Change from 2000 to 2010
Fuel	PJ(b)	PJ	%
Black coal	1 188 450	1 288 200	8.4
Brown coal	365 690	359 870	–1.6
Crude oil	7 548	7 215	–4.4
Condensate(c)	11 100	12 414	11.8
Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)	6 943	4 076	–41.3
Natural gas	82 240	134 504	63.6
Uranium	305 970	609 167	99.1
Total	1 967 941	2 415 446	22.7
(a) Non-renewable resources only. (b) PJ = petajoule = 1015 joules.
(c) Geoscience Australia, Reserves Table 3, 2011.
Source: ABS National Accounts data available on request.

The net present value (NPV) of an energy resource is the expected value of the resource based on current market value, with some modifications based on depletion and economic forces. At June 2010, the NPV of Australia's primary energy resources was $339 billion (table 19.3). The energy resources with the highest NPV were black coal and natural gas, accounting for 42% and 29% of the total NPV of energy resources respectively. In the period 2000–2010, the NPV of energy resources in Australia increased from $129 billion to $340 billion (up by 162%).

19.3 NET PRESENT VALUE OF PRIMARY ENERGY RESOURCES—30 June
	2000	2010	Change from 2000 to 2010
Fuel	$m	$m	%
Black coal	36 310	141 806	290.5
Brown coal	589	2 393	306.3
Crude oil	15 113	53 192	252.0
Condensate	10 523	29 256	178.0
LPG(a)	5 680	11 853	108.7
Natural gas	59 008	97 613	65.4
Uranium	2 210	3 391	53.4
Total	129 433	339 504	162.3
(a) Naturally occurring. Source: Australian System of National Accounts, 2009–10 (5204.0), Table 62.