Via The Australian:
The corporate watchdog’s latest efforts to improve transparency in the east coast gas market should help gas users secure better deals, according to Orica chief executive Alberto Calderon.
“We’ve been supportive of the plans of the government to put the (gas) market in control, and lately the ACCC and the initiative of (chairman) Rod Sims of publishing an LNG netback price is very important,” Mr Calderon told The Australian.
“There’s no reason why manufacturers should need to pay above the LNG netback price. You could argue that a country that produces a resource should be below that but, for sure, it should not be above that.”
…Mr Calderon said LNG netback prices suggested local gas consumers should be paying around $8.50 a gigajoule. That’s well down from the peak of more than $20 a gigajoule early last year.
“These producers of LNG were really having the time of their lives at the cost to domestic manufacturing,” Mr Calderon said.
“It’s now much better.”
But it is still 200-300% above historical average prices of $3-4%Gj. And, frankly, there is no reason why Australians should pay export net-back prices for their own gas. No other energy producer does. They have domestic reservation that holds prices much lower than export net-back and so should we.
We only need to hold back 10% of east coast exports (200Pj) to make it happen. The gas export cartel that has bought all of the third party gas lied about having enough reserves when it built its Curtis Island LNG white elephant. Why should Orica or anyone else pay for their misallocation of capital?
Domestic reservation would crash the gas price, crash electricity prices and put the decarbonisation plan back on track.
Mad not to it.
