Australia backs long-term gas exploration despite 2050 climate goals

SYDNEY, May 9 (Reuters) - Australia's resources minister said on Thursday she backs the long-term exploration of potential natural gas projects, setting up a potential clash with opposition lawmakers and some in the incumbent Labor Party that oppose its use.

Australia, one of the world's largest producers of liquefied natural gas (LNG), is committed to reducing its emissions to net zero by 2050.

But Resources Minister Madeline King said in a column in the Australian Financial Review on Thursday, ahead of the launch of the government's Future Gas Strategy, that "gas is needed out to 2050 and beyond."

"The energy transformation will take time – it will take investment in renewables, new industry processes, new technologies," she said.

Australia supplies around a fifth of global LNG supply shipped last year, with the largest projects run by Chevron and Woodside Energy Group in Western Australia.