Gottiboff has some ideas, all them bad:
Alternative 1
Victoria has the best undeveloped gas deposits in Australia. They are on shore and are dissolved in very deep water, so don’t require fracking.
Alternative 2
The giant Beetaloo gas field in the Northern Territory. It probably would take between two and three years to construct the pipe network required to connect Beetaloo with the National Grid and supply Victoria with substantial gas.
Alternative 3
Extra drilling in South Australia can increase gas production.
Alternative 4
Similarly, further drilling in Queensland could help. There are also small Victorian gas deposits outside the major Gippsland field that can be developed.
Alternative 5
And then of course there is the Narrabri gas fields in NSW, which have been delayed almost endlessly.
Alternative 6
The out of its depth Victorian government has come up with the bizarre idea of a floating LNG plant stuck in the middle of Port Phillip Bay. Because of the Russian and Middle Eastern situation, Europeans are erecting floating gas terminals at a much greater rate than previously, so creating a shortage and boosting leasing costs.
Given that demand, leasing a floating gas terminal will be incredibly expensive and land Victoria with huge gas bills.
Gottiboff loves a good cartel so it is no surprise he hasn’t even mentioned the real problem.
If you don’t start with the first principle of breaking the export cartel then nothing will be fixed.
As for the supply side alternatives:
- Nobody knows how big the VIC reserves are. But we should find out and develop them.
- Beetaloo gas is expensive at $10-15Gj before transport costs south.
- Narrabri is cheaper and could land in Sydney for $8Gj but it is not big enough and is toxic.
- Extra drilling in SA won’t happen because the export cartel sits on the reserves.
- Ditto QLD.
- Putting a floating LNG terminal in Port Philip Bay to drive gas costs crazy is the worst idea in the history of bad ideas.
Why we can’t do the obvious and force the gas export cartel to heal is beyond me:
- Pull the ADGSM lever and force more gas into the local market.
- Build out Iona capacity, fill it in the summer, drain it in the winter.
- Let the cartel sort out whether to drill QLD and SA faster or which export contracts to break.
- Impose (or use the threat of) an export levy above $6Gj to crash the local prices and/or collect billions in foregone revenue.
The gas export cartel is an evil, anti-market, Chinese Communist Party fifth column that is destroying the East Coast economy.
Kill it or die yourself.
