
Billionaires taking a stranglehold on WA’s gas
There has been much public and political focus centred on Australia’s east coast gas market, amid warnings of gas shortages, policy interventions and higher prices.
But it’s over on the west coast where the next gas debate may be brewing. West Australia’s gas producers, buyers and policymakers could be sleepwalking into their own domestic gas turning point. Just as the market is tightening, nearly all new gas discoveries have been bought up by three prominent Western Australian billionaires, who have their own priorities for the gas. It’s a timely reminder that investment in exploration for gas remains important both to enable the phase out of coal and support the supply of minerals needed to deliver the decarbonisation of the global economy and provide geopolitical security in supply chains.