The local gas spot price spent one day below Albo’s calamitous $12Gj price floor before rebounding:
Prices have begun to fall for electricity. I expect a much higher off-season floor price than last year:
Meanwhile, the gas cartel is the gift that keeps on giving:
Santos has revealed it could give the go-ahead for its $3.5bn Narrabri gas project in NSW as soon as next year, boosting hopes it could fill an expected supply gap later this decade, as pressure grows on regulators to green-light the major energy development.
The comments from chief executive Kevin Gallagher will add to growing urgency for Australian authorities to accelerate a decision on Narrabri, which continues to be held up by a Native Title Tribunal process.
The project could play a major role in easing Australia’s east coast gas shortfall, but it has attracted strong opposition and the federal government is wary of the political fallout.
Narrabri is a great example of how the east coast gas regime has failed.
- It is environmentally questionable so needs tight regulation but won’t have it.
- It is domestically reserved but won’t help prices because STO will simply shift other resources into the export market.
- It should be developed but STO has dawdled for years as it keeps the market tight.
The answer is new rules:
- Use it or lose it legislation to put a deadline on resource development.
- Blanket reservation.
- The formation of a national gas titan operated on the cost+ model to benchmark cartel prices and reassure the public of environmental oversight.
But no, it’s all theft, crisis and chaos instead.
