This is amusing to watch.
Australia’s largest east coast exporter, Australia Pacific LNG in which Origin Energy owns a 27.5 per cent stake, is arguing for sweeping reforms that would rewire the domestic market and impose stricter obligations on rival producers to prioritise local buyers. By contrast, Santos — operator of the Gladstone LNG project and the subject of a $36bn indicative takeover approach from Abu Dhabi’s state-owned oil giant ADNOC — is believed to be supportive of a more modest package of tweaks, but critically will resist efforts for it to shoulder the burden. The tensions have spilled into public view.
APLNG earlier this month tacitly called for new rules that Santos’ Gladstone LNG project should not be allowed to source extra gas from the domestic market to cover export shortfalls — a swipe at one of the most contentious practices in the industry. While couched in polite language, the critique underscores how competition between LNG producers is increasingly bleeding into the political debate.
