Experts now say the only feasible solution is for the southern states to build one or more import terminals so gas can be shipped in from Queensland,Western Australia or overseas.
“We’ve run out of time,” Rick Wilkinson,the chief executive of Australian energy consultancy EnergyQuest,said.
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While Australia is one of the top exporters of liquefied gas,massive volumes of production from Queensland’s gas fields are locked into long-term export contracts to LNG buyers in Japan,Korea and China,and gas produced in WA cannot be transported to the eastern states.
The southern states’ gas shortfall is driven by dwindling supply from fields inBass Strait,which have historically provided up to two-thirds of their demand.
State governments have rolled out schemes to drive down gas usage,ban gas hook-ups in new homes and encourage people to switch to electric appliances. But the market operator said gas use was not falling fast enough to avoid shortfalls.
A new gas field cannot be built in time and the existing pipeline from Queensland’s vast gas fields is already running at capacity amid elevated demand for heating and power this winter.