30 Sep 2019

APPEA is delighted to welcome new State Directors in Western Australia and Queensland – two important states for the oil and gas industry.

APPEA’s new Western Australian Director is Claire Wilkinson and the Queensland Director is Georgy Mayo.

Both these outstanding leaders – who started in September – have impressive backgrounds in the oil and gas industry after working in senior roles for major energy companies and industry organisations, including several APPEA members.

The two highly qualified and experienced industry professionals will help drive the organisation’s agenda in their respective states.

Ms Mayo most recently worked as the Director Resource Policy for the Queensland Resources Council as well as a Director of the Queensland Exploration Council.  She has also previously worked for Origin Energy.

Ms Mayo said: “Queensland plays an important role in supplying gas to the east coast domestic gas market as well as exporting LNG to Asia.  The industry has a great story to tell and I look forward to helping members to tell that story.

“The industry has always proactively engaged with the community and stakeholders and I look forward to continuing to support that advocacy which, importantly, must extend to engaging industry detractors.”

Some key issues on the Queensland agenda include ensuring the state continues to thrive as a significant producer of gas on the east coast, ongoing engagement with government around regulatory reform and having a stable royalty regime.

Ms Wilkinson joined APPEA after working for Total E&P Australia as Asset Manager for Total’s involvement in the Ichthys LNG joint venture with INPEX.

“As an integral part of the WA economy, we have a strong platform to support future growth, but reinforcing the benefits of natural gas to all our stakeholders remains critical to bringing this to fruition,” Ms Wilkinson said.

“I look forward to playing an active role on behalf of industry and doing all I can to support APPEA members.”

Some key issues on the WA agenda include the WA Government’s climate change policy, EPA’s assessment of greenhouse gas emissions, implementation of the hydraulic fracturing inquiry recommendations, growing onshore activities in the Perth basin, WA LNG Jobs Taskforce, WA’s domestic gas policy and providing support on national issues important for WA members including inquiries into seismic and tax, decommissioning and initiatives  on regulatory reform.

Members looking to meet with the Directors can contact Claire on (08) 9426 7200, [email protected] and Georgy on (07) 3231 0509 [email protected].