You cannot compare the two at all. America has immense amounts...

You cannot compare the two at all. America has immense amounts of oil & gas, so much so in fact, that these minerals will soon support all that countries energy consumption needs, as well as providing very big financial gains from exporting those minerals to Asia. The small holdings by Australia is minimal, especially so when you consider the wealth of the big US oil & gas companies, such as Conoco Phillips, Anadarko, Chevron, Exon Mobil and there are loads of others. No comparison unfortunately.

There are also many exporting facilities being built in preparation for this and the government is granting the applications with less restrictions than previously applied, so they are obviously encouraging this due to the benefit this will be to the US.