A new Economics Consulting Services report shows that Western Australian gas supplies will decline over the next decade unless action is taken by State and Federal Governments, according to the DomGas Alliance.
DomGas said that the 2010 Western Australia Natural Gas Demand and Supply Forecast predicted a gas shortfall of up to 600 terajoules per day (TJ/d), equivalent to half of the state’s current gas consumption.
“Production from existing gas fields supplying the Western Australian market is expected to decline – by as much as two-thirds by 2020,” DomGas said.
DomGas Alliance Chairman Tony Petersen said that governments should apply domestic gas obligations to the Browse LNG Project and the Wheatstone LNG Development, both located in Western Australia, as well as preventing producers from ‘warehousing’ gas supplies and removing anti-competitive joint selling arrangements.
“The common belief that projects like Gorgon would solve the state’s gas shortage by 2015 is clearly not the case,” Mr Petersen said.
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The report identified over 40 new resource projects in Western Australia that potentially need gas supply, and predicted that new projects such as Reindeer, Macedon and Gorgon would provide up to 500 TJ/d of new supply.
Don’t miss the Western Australia region review in the upcoming August edition of Gas Today, detailing the key developments in the state’s gas sector.