WA urged to re-think onshore gas export ban
The West Australian government should consider dismantling its onshore gas export ban, which is stifling investment in new LNG projects even as demand rises, Strike Energy boss Stuart Nicholls says.
Ahead of WA parliamentary inquiry into the viability of the state’s offshore domestic gas reserve, Mr Nicholls said the government had more than one lever available to impact pricing and should look beyond the function of one policy.
“WA’s price dynamic is a function of supply, not a function of not enough policy driving the right behaviours from producers,” Mr Nicholls told The Australian Financial Review.
Strike Energy CEO Stuart Nicholls says the WA government should consider scrapping its export ban for onshore gas.
“Aspects of the existing domestic gas policy, like the LNG export ban for onshore resources, reduces the investment thesis, or investment case, for developing new gas supply in abundance.”
While 15 per cent of offshore gas must be reserved for domestic use, the state government in 2020 announced that 100 per cent of future gas produced onshore needed to be used in WA.
The McGowan government later gave an exemption to Beach Energy’s Waitsia gas project, allowing it to export 50 per cent of what it produces. Mr Nicholls said the Waitsia deal should be applied to other onshore players, including Strike Energy.
“What’s good enough for them should be good enough for us,” he said.
“They could repeal the export ban for onshore resources because a lot of this is a story of the allocation of capital, not necessarily the lack of drillable opportunities in the Perth Basin.”
Mr Nicholls said making a portion of onshore gas available for export would encourage investment in the basin, which could become a heartland for
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