The boss of Woodside Petroleum has lambasted the gas industry for being complacent and for losing ground to rival fossil fuel players.
Woodside chief executive Peter Coleman took a swipe at his own industry during the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration's annual conference in Brisbane on Tuesday.
He said that having the fossil fuel with the best carbon footprint didn't guarantee gas producers a dominant position in the global marketplace.
"The growth in competing fossil fuels was because we were out to lunch; we were taking years to build our projects and we became too expensive," he said.
"We allowed the competition to take our place.
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"The fact that gas holds such a low percentage of fossil fuel usage today is because of our complacency."
His criticisms of the industry comes four months after Woodside deferred development of its $40 billion Browse LNG project off Western Australia's Kimberley coast.
The company in March said it had decided to hold off the development because of the current economic and market environment, which includes low gas prices.
Mr Coleman urged fellow gas producers to pick up their game and to embrace innovation and new technology, including 3D printing, building more compact plants and wireless controls to improve the sector's competitiveness.
He said Woodside had established an innovation and technology centre three years ago and was moving towards more efficient and modern ways of operating.
"That group is the most highly sought after and most motivated inside the company and it is the group that is going to allow us to achieve the future which we think is in front of us," he said.
