Investment in the Australian resources sector has reached an all-time high of A$268.4-billion, with liquefied natural gas (LNG), gas and petroleum projects accounting for the bulk of the record investment.

LNG, oil and gas investments amount to A$195-billion, the Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics (BREE) stated in its 'Resources and Energy Major Projects—October 2012' report.

Federal Resources and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson welcomed the strong project pipeline, which was up 3% from April 2012, when the previous report was released.

"To put Australia's investment in oil and gas in perspective, the total committed expenditure on these projects is comparable to the cost of the Apollo Moon Programme in today's prices," Ferguson said.

The report stated that 87 projects were in the committed category, of which 51 were minerals projects, with 18 gas and petroleum projects and 18 infrastructure projects. A further 277 projects were in the planning stages.

BREE executive director and chief economist Professor Quentin Grafton said 11 mega projects, costing more than A$5-billion each, accounted for A$201-billion, or 76%, of the total committed investment in resources and energy major projects. Most of these mega investments were LNG projects located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia and Gladstone, in Queensland.

In the six months to October 2012, ten projects, worth A$13.2-billion, were committed to after receiving a positive final investment decision. The largest of these was for an additional LNG train at the Australia Pacific LNG plant at Gladstone.

Ferguson said that the report showed that Australia had a "solid" pipeline of potential investment in resources and energy, despite weaker commodity prices.

"In the face of lower commodity prices, the delivery of this pipeline of projects is contingent on keeping production costs down, providing access to skilled labour and increasing our productivity and efficiency."

Grafton also noted that any substantial net increase to the dollar value of committed projects would require either cost increases to larger, existing projects and/or a new final investment decision on a large project within the coming year.

Ferguson noted that the Australian government was working with the resources industry to ensure that Australia remained competitive, and continued to attract investment in one of its most valuable sectors.