Pursuit of CSG for export leads to massive price rise for gas
MEDIA RELEASE - 10 June 2014
The Greens NSW spokesperson on mining Jeremy Buckingham said blame for today’s price hike in gas prices lay firmly at the feet of gas companies pursuing coal seam gas for export as LNG. He said IPART should have forced the upstream gas companies to absorb this artificial price rise, rather than exploit domestic gas customers to boost their profits.
“The pursuit of coal seam gas is now being felt by households as it sends the price of gas skyrocketing. Coal seam gas has been a huge mistake for Australia,” said Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham.
“IPART acknowledge that now that the East Coast gas market is linked to the international market through LNG exports, pursuing even more CSG in NSW is a comparative drop in the ocean in the international market and will have a negligible effect on gas prices.
“A recent Credit Suisse report made it clear that one of the motivations for Santos investing in export LNG was to inflate the domestic price of gas. This price hike is a deliberate action of the upstream gas industry.
“I made a submission to IPART arguing that upstream gas suppliers should absorb the price rise and be required to continue to supply gas to the domestic market.
“Coal seam gas is not the answer. The pursuit of CSG will have virtually no impact on the international price. Neither the government nor the gas companies should use these price hikes as an excuse to let coal seam gas threaten our land, water and communities.
“The $155 – $225 increase to the typical household is unjustified and will go straight into the pockets of the large gas companies, while they divert gas supplies to the export terminals at Gladstone.
“It is unfair that families, pensioners and small business should have to pay more for gas simply so companies such as PetroChina, Petronas (Malaysia), Kogas (Korea), British Gas, Shell (Netherlands), Total (France), ConocoPhillips (USA), Sinopec (China), Santos, and Origin can make large profits through their export LNG consortiums,” he said.
Contact: Max Phillips - 9230 2202 or 0419 444 916
