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 ( CVX )

and Woodside Energy Group ( WDS ) in Western Australia.

Woodside is developing the Scarborough LNG project in

Western Australia and the Beetaloo Basin in the Northern

Territory, both of which have faced strong opposition from

environmental campaigners.

"The strategy also makes it clear that we can't rely on past

investments to get us through the next decades, as existing

fields deplete," King said.

"That will mean a continued commitment to exploration, and

an openness to the kinds of foreign investment that have helped

build the industry into the powerhouse it is today."

The Labor Party led by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who

faces reelection in a federal poll due next year, is reliant on

the Greens and independent lawmakers to pass legislation in the

Senate, the upper house of parliament, where Labor lacks a

majority.