Jemena Managing Director, David Gillespie, has responded to a new report from Rystad Energy, which found that regasification terminals are capable of bringing new gas to market before shortages hit.
According to the Competitiveness of LNG Imports report, regasification terminals are a price competitive, near-term solution that are capable of bringing large volumes of new gas to market before forecast gas shortages materialise in 2028–30.
Commenting on the report, Mr Gillespie, said that gas consumers – particularly large industrial consumers and manufacturers – need confidence that they will not face a gas shortage over the coming years.
“Industry repeatedly tells us that they are concerned about gas prices and looming shortfalls,” he said.
“Put simply, whether it is delivered via a regasification terminal or a transcontinental pipeline new gas will be comparatively priced.
“What we need now is an approach where we use all the technologies at our disposal. In the immediate future, this means making use of regasification terminals to plug supply gaps in the second half of the decade. Doing this will also provide time for northern fields, and the required infrastructure to get this gas to market, to be developed.”
The report considered the role of regasification terminals as well as new northern gas supply – transported via new transcontinental pipelines – in closing Australia’s gas supply gap, while taking into account supply requirements, timing and the total delivered price of gas.
According to the report’s findings, new gas delivered via LNG or through new and augmented onshore pipelines would have a comparable total delivered price in the range of $14–19/GJ (noting the delivered price of southern gas is currently between $12–20/GJ according to the ACCC Gas Inquiry, March 2025).
The report also found that while the Beetaloo and Bowen/Surat Basins have substantial resource potential, these are not likely to be commercialised at scale until the start of the 2030s – meaning they will not be able to address forecast supply gaps across the east coast gas market from the second half of this decade. Transporting this gas to market will also require large scale new infrastructure and augmentation, with an estimated capex investment of between $8–10 billion.
“From the 2030s we see Australia’s east coast gas market being supplied by gas, which is transported via a mix of technologies including onshore pipelines and regasification terminals,” Mr Gillespie said.
Jemena has been working closely with Squadron Energy on Australia’s first LNG regasification terminal – Port Kembla Energy Terminal (PKET) – which Mr Gillespie said is set to be the most advanced in Australia, and will create a ‘virtual pipeline’ capable of flexibly receiving gas from Western Australia, the Northern Territory, Queensland, or overseas, depending on market dynamics.
Once fully operational, PKET will be capable of receiving around 500TJ/d of gas – the same amount of gas used across New South Wales on a peak winters day, or around half the amount of gas used in Victoria on a peak winters day.
“This is the first time we will have a truly national gas market,” Mr Gillespie said.
“LNG regasification can act as a ‘virtual pipeline’ that allows us to source gas flexibly from a range of supply options including Australian gas from places like Western Australia, Queensland, and the Northern Territory.
“This gas will be competitively priced and can be scaled-up to meet peak demand as required.
“This project is the most mature and only realistic option currently on the table to bring large volumes of new gas to market flexibly in the near term to offset the decline of the large, traditional gas fields in the Gippsland Basin.”
Mr Gillespie said Jemena had recently moved to stage two of its five-stage East Coast Gas Market Plan.
Under this second stage of its plan, Jemena will make the 797km Eastern Gas Pipeline (EGP) bidirectional so that it can deliver new gas to both the Victorian and New South Wales markets from PKET.
The company expects a bidirectional EGP to initially be able to deliver up to 200TJ/d of new gas into Victoria by winter 2026 to supplement gas that is currently supplied by Bass Strait. Depending on market needs, with future augmentation Jemena can increase this capacity to around 320TJ/d.
In addition to flows south from PKET, around 300TJ/d of gas can concurrently be supplied from Port Kembla into New South Wales.
To advance stage two of its plan for the EGP, in February 2025 Jemena appointed engineering and construction firm Monadelphous to complete upgrade works at its Michelago, Mila, and Longford Compressor Stations.
The company expects the EGP will be bidirectional by early 2026, allowing sufficient time for commissioning ahead of winter next year.
The Competitiveness of LNG Imports report is available on Jemena’s website.
