Victoria’s gas supply plummets
Gas production from Victoria’s offshore fields continues to plunge, stoking concern over supplies along Australia’s eastern seaboard.
Gas production from Victoria’s offshore gas fields plummeted by more than a third in the second quarter of 2023 to the lowest level since 2002, consultancy EnergyQuest said.
Gas from the Gippsland Basin joint venture, owned by Woodside Energy and ExxonMobil, fell by 34 per cent to 55.6 petajoules for the three months to June 30 from 84.6PJs for the same period a year earlier.
The decline will stoke concern over the gas outlook for Australia’s east coast with shortages expected every winter until 2026 amid production plummeting from offshore fields and delays in sanctioning LNG import plants.
Australia is also on track for a new annual LNG export high after data showed gas shipments overseas set a new first half-year record at 40.7 million tonnes.
EnergyQuest said the bounty “didn’t go unnoticed” by unions who are threatening two weeks of rolling 24-hour strikes at Chevron’s Gorgon and Wheatstone LNG facilities, after a tense standoff with Woodside Energy facilities.
“This is a white knuckle negotiating situation where EnergyQuest estimates the daily revenue for these projects is $132m per day,” it said.
Meanwhile, the share of gas supplies directed to the local market from West Australian LNG exports fell to just 7.4 per cent in 2022, below the state’s gas reservation target of 15 per cent.
“These developments don’t bode well for gas producers in the west,” EnergyQuest said.
“As the east coast industry has experienced, if there are problems with price and supply the potential for adverse government intervention is real.”