From NAB today comes this little note on a big subject, the developing pipeline of major mining projects:
AUS: Resource project listing sky-rockets to $232bn from $173bn in April
Prior to the release of the Government’s mid year review of the Budget this morning, an updated listing of major resource development projects has also been released this morning.
And in a sea of external defensiveness and worry, this six-monthly Australian update of its resource development projects has gotten even larger, now bursting at the seams. The listing from the Federal Bureau of Resource and Energy Economics (BREE) has seen the value of underway/ committed projects (termed “advanced” by BREE) soar to $A232bn, some 16.6% of GDP. That’s up from $A174bn (13% of GDP) only six months ago and $A132bn (10.0% of GDP) last October (see first chart below).
The boost this time comes from the addition of several large-scale LNG projects including Wheatstone, APLNG and Prelude LNG (Shell’s offshore floating platform LNG project) as well as BHP Billiton’s commitment to develop the Caval Ridge coal mine in Queensland.
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal.
He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.