CSG licence overhaul planned to prevent gas shortages and drive down the price

ROCKETING household gas prices should be reined in as the Baird government relaunches NSW’s controversial coal seam gas industry.

ROCKETING household gas prices should be reined in as the Baird government relaunches NSW’s controversial coal seam gas industry — with priority for new licences given to companies keeping cheap, locally-mined gas in NSW rather than exporting to Asia.

It comes as Energy Minister Anthony Roberts revealed NSW came within a whisker of “catastrophic” gas shortages last year, with only high-level intervention by both the state and federal governments averting disaster for thousands of businesses.

In early 2015 — at the height of Greens-led CSG protests on the north coast — a major interstate firm halted supplies to NSW and diverted resources to booming Asian markets.

NSW Resources Minister Anthony Roberts / Picture: Justin Lloyd

Parts of NSW, which produces just 5 per cent of its own gas, leaving it at the mercy of interstate and overseas suppliers, came within days of running dry, sparking urgent negotiations between senior ministers and the company.

“It would have had immediate effect on tens of thousands, perhaps 200,000 jobs,” Mr Roberts (pictured) said.

“It was almost catastrophic and I swore it would never happen again. My hairs raise when I think about the ramifications — that’s how close we were.”

NSW’s CSG industry has been in lockdown since 2014, when new licences were banned amid scare campaigns about “fracking” — fracturing coal seams to release gas.

Since then, annual regulated domestic gas prices have rocketed about $200, while gas disconnections increased 54 per cent.

New mining licences will become available from mid-2016, with Mr Roberts insisting CSG can be a multibillion-dollar industry, generating jobs and boosting cheap supplies.

“Companies developing gas for NSW will be given priority.

“These assets belong to the people of NSW and we’d like them to be used by the people of NSW,” he said.

Stop CSG activists celebrating the news AGL is closing its gas project in Camden in 2023 / Picture: Robert Pozo

AGL scrapped an exploration project at Gloucester last week and is pulling out of its Sydney drilling site early, leading some to declare the end of the CSG industry.

“The Greens will tell you gas in NSW is finished. I would suggest this is just the beginning,” Mr Roberts said.

“The bad way licences were issued, the poor governance, the lack of transparency — they’re gone. But the gas industry is far from gone, we need one.”

Under the former Labor government CSG licences were available for just $1000, attracting cowboys and speculators, as well as established operators.

Amazingly, one licence even covered parts of Sydney CBD and The Domain.

Companies will be invited to apply for licences under a tightly-­controlled “strategic” release policy, aiming to avoid conflicts between landholders and miners.