Page 10 - AsianOil Week 33 2022

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Australian state officials press for

domestic gas supply guarantees

POLICY STATE energy ministers in Australia are press- Matt Kean, Energy Minister for New South
ing for action that will guarantee gas supplies in Wales, said the forecast gas shortfalls in 2023 and
The ACCC has warned the coming years, when it is expected that the 2024 need to be met “and what we need to do is
that curtailments in populous regions on the East Coast could face a prioritise Australian gas for Australian gas users
LNG exports may be supply shortfall. This comes despite the fact that ahead of companies making super profits and
necessary in the future. Australia is the third-largest global exporter of exporting the gas offshore.”
LNG. Australia’s problem is that while it has large
A government agency, the Australian Com- gas resources, it lacks the infrastructure to
petition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), deliver it to areas where demand is greatest.
issued a report recently that said the country Santos announced mid-month that it had
could face gas shortages and steep price hikes in acquired Hunter Gas Pipeline, which owns an
2023 and 2024. The agency has suggested that approved underground gas pipeline route from
the government invoke, if necessary, the 2017 Wallumbilla in Queensland to Newcastle in New
Australian Domestic Gas Supply Mechanism South Wales.
(ADGSM), which allows the government to “The underground pipeline route passes close
direct gas originally meant for LNG export to be to Santos’ Narrabri Gas Project and our goal is to
diverted for domestic supply. work with infrastructure developers and own-
The energy ministers called during a meeting ers to construct the pipeline and deliver much-
in mid-August addressing energy reforms for needed gas to East Coast domestic markets in
gas output to be directed to the domestic market the shortest timeframe possible,” Santos said in
in order to avoid high prices and shortages. a statement.
Three LNG export facilities are located on Santos’ acquisition of Hunter follows a recent
Australia’s eastern coast, north of the states of announcement by Senex Energy that it will
New South Wales and Victoria where most of invest more than AUD1bn ($710mn) into the
the population reside. The operators of those expansion of the Atlas and Roma North gas pro-
plants, Santos, Shell and Orion, are anxious jects in Queensland’s Surat Basin. The company
that the ADGSM will not be imposed on their said it is ready to boost output by 1.6bn cubic
operations. metres annually for the purpose of securing
“We produce more than sufficient gas to Australia’s energy future.
meet our needs, but the problem is too much of Work is due to begin in a few weeks on the
it has been allowed to be exported at our own Senex project and be complete within two years.
cost, and that’s got to change,” Lily D’Ambrosio, However, it is unlikely that any projects that get
State Energy Minister of Victoria, told Australian underway now will be capable of addressing the
media. forecast supply shortfall next year. ™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 33 21•August•2022