Australian LNG

Via the AFR: Malcolm Turnbull has indicated the government will pull the trigger to enforce limits on east coast gas exports and try to direct more to domestic supply, prompting howls of protest from the LNG giants and warnings about sovereign risk.

Via the AFR: The managing director of Australia’s biggest brick making company says if a company was ever run as badly as Australia has been in the past 10 years by its politicians, the entire board would step down.

Citi says so:  Oil markets are persistently misunderstanding this Friday’s meeting of the OPEC JMMC in Vienna, confusing it with an OPEC ministerial meeting and expecting decisions related to whether the producer group plus Russia and other non-OPEC countries will extend and/or deepen their output cuts.

The new gas narrative is given greater impetus today by the ACCC: Australian factories are at risk of shutting down and sacking workers as the nation’s gas exporters starve local customers in favour of overseas clients, according to a dire warning from the competition watchdog that clears the way for a gas crackdown.

If you want to know why Do-nothing Malcolm suddenly loves coal then look no further than this: The opposition leader just wrapped up a two-day visit to the sunshine state selling Labor’s $1bn tourism plan, flying out as Turnbull flies in.

The MB line on the energy crisis is now official.

Via The Australian through gritted teeth: The use of high-cost gas for electricity generation has almost doubled in two years, producing a perfect storm for household bills of record gas prices and a growing reliance on it to fill the energy gaps as coal plants come off line.

It’s getting worse not better as Do-nothing Malcolm’s political barstardry leads the nation down the energy rabbit hole.

Via the AFR: Coal-fired generation equal to 10 Liddell power stations will have to be closed by 2036 for Australia to meet its Paris climate agreement pledge, the Australian Energy Market Operator says.

Via UBS: Domestic market accepts diverted Qld LNG gas; GLNG the surprise player Our June 2017 research note on east coast gas concluded that there would be no physical gas shortage, just a shortage of cheap gas, as Queensland LNG projects divert more gas into the domestic market.

Via The Australian: Bill Shorten asks the same question, hoping repetition will prove effective.

As the Coalition hearts coal today, the US National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) has released staggering new cost profiles for US utility scale solar: Solar PV capex cost cratered 29% year on year to a levelised cost of electricity of $0.43kWh.

Dalian is selling today: Big Iron is up anyway: BHP and RIO are both pushing towards break out lines.

Via Credit Suisse: AGL’s 90-day commitment no different to prior voluntary commitment, now more politicised: following a meeting with the Federal government, AGL has committed to revert in 90 days with an alternate plan to the Government’s preference of keeping Liddell operating beyond its 2022 end of life.

You can see where it’s going.

One of the more unfortunate parts of meta-commentary is having to cover material that you would normally tip-toe past holding your nose.

Via Citi:  The market is still digesting the potential impact of Hurricane’s Harvey, Irma and Katia on oil balances but focus is likely to soon turn to the IEA’s September OMR that is published this Wednesday.

My God, this nation has become a walking idiot.

Dalian is trying repair overnight damage today: Big Iron is down sharply.

The AFR hasn’t done too bad a job on energy.

Via the Financial Post: India has renegotiated the pricing of liquefied natural gas (LNG) imported from Australia’s Gorgon project to save more than Rs 10,000 crore over the life of the contract.

Via the AFR: Santos and Origin have inked a new deal to supply Chinese-controlled plastics maker Qenos with ethane until the end of 2019.