DUG Technology blasts Peter Dutton gas plan ‘stupidity’, laments government ‘trashing' of oil and gas industry

A WA-based global technology company has blasted Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s gas reservation plan as “stupidity”, while claiming governments of both political persuasions have done too much damage and left it too late to shore up Australia’s energy security. Matt Lamont, the managing director and co-founder of listed oil and gas services company DUG Technology, blames a lack of help and restrictive development regulations by State and Federal governments over time for his group prioritising jobs in more supportive oil and gas jurisdictions at the expense of Australia. “Australia has trashed oil and gas, totally and utterly trashed it at both State and Federal levels,” Dr Lamont told The West Australian. “Everything has just slowed oil and gas to such a point that companies don’t even bother coming here now,” he said. “You have to have serious policy changes, (and) in the environmental regulatory framework, where you want oil and gas projects to go ahead to have any hope of companies coming back. “I just can’t see it.” As part of his election campaign, Mr Dutton last week vowed to drive down household bills by forcing the big east coast exporters to supply domestic markets with discounted gas. The pitch has been criticised by industry, with Dr Lamont describing it as “stupidity”, given it came from a side of politics that couldn’t escape some of the blame for the east coast’s energy problems. “You decimate oil and gas, you smack oil and gas over the head for years and years so it’s difficult to operate here, then suddenly you say, ‘we’ll make it better’?” Dr Lamont questioned the need for more market intervention, instead insisting that east coast markets “will get all the domestic gas they need” if governments “treat the oil and gas industry properly” by encouraging development of new resources. Floated to the ASX five years ago, DUG operates super, or high-performance, computers, making most of its money by processing vast quantities of seismic data for oil and gas companies. The computers use complex algorithms to help analyse the data, enabling the companies to better target their exploration efforts. Established in a backyard shed in 2003 as DownUnder GeoSolutions, the $143 million company now has most of its employees in offices in London, Houston, Kuala Lumpur and Abu Dhabi because of diminishing opportunities in oil and gas in Australia. “We used to have 35 geophysicists in WA working on projects, we now have five ... but they do a lot of work on overseas projects,” Dr Lamont said. While DUG’s Australian workforce has fallen to about 70, “we’re adding jobs big time overseas”. It employs 110 in Kuala Lumpur, 50 in each of London and Houston, and a dozen in Abu Dhabi. Dr Lamont said US President Donald Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” administration and more supportive jurisdictions offshore offered better prospects for the company over its home market. “There is a regulatory framework, you have to be environmentally friendly, but they’re very keen for you to drill wells, very keen for you to do seismic, very keen to get revenue coming in, it’s the exact opposite of Australia.”