The Woodside Energy Group Ltd (ASX: WDS) share price is defying the broader market retreat today to post a late morning gain of 0.9%.
Shares in the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) oil and gas company closed yesterday at $37.21. Shares are currently changing hands for $37.54 apiece.
This comes as ASX 200 investors consider some strong words of support for the domestic gas sector from prime minister Anthony Albanese.
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Why is Albanese backing gas energy?
The Woodside share price could be getting a lift on news that Albanese supports gas for a "key role" in Australia's energy mix as the world transitions towards cleaner energy.
Addressing The Australian Financial Review Business Summit for the first time, Albanese pointed to recent global energy shocks, saying these "have presented us with a series of national wake-up calls".
Among those wake-up calls, is Australia's own antiquated energy grid.
Albanese said it will take time for the world to transition to net zero, but that doesn't mean there's time to waste.
"The work of transition will require massive investment in building new physical assets and modifying existing ones," he said (quoted by the AFR).
Potentially giving the Woodside share price some tailwinds today, the prime minister focused on the importance of gas in this ongoing transition:
This is where gas in particular has a key role to play, as a flexible source of energy – providing peaking power today and continuing to provide firming and back-up power. Helping to smooth the transition to renewables, while guaranteeing energy security both for Australia and for our partners in the region.
One of the things holding back new investments in gas exploration and project expansion in Australia is uncertainty over future legislation that could turn the billion-dollar projects into stranded assets.
But Albanese sought to allay those fears.
For Woodside shareholders alongside other gas explorers and producers, the prime minister said it's "important they can look to government for the confidence and certainty of a stable foundation and a long-term vision".
Woodside share price snapshot
The Woodside share price has seen some big swings over the past year amid volatile energy prices.
As you can see in the graph below, shares in the ASX 200 energy company are now up 9% in 12 months.
