The Australian Energy Market Operator this week imposed a rarely used price limit on wholesale gas prices and issued a warning of dangerously low reserves in Victoria,South Australia and Tasmania.
Gallagher said the east-coast price shocks were the consequence of “more than a decade of policy failure” and onshore drilling moratoriums that had prevented the energy industry from developing more local gas projects.
He said the situation underlined the importance of new gas developments such as Narrabri.
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“Customers are crying out for this gas with more demand than we can meet when it comes to market around 2026,” he told a Melbourne Mining Club event on Thursday.
“I am trying to bring Narrabri to market earlier if that is possible ... that’s something we could talk to[the New South Wales government] about.”
The Narrabri coal-seam gas project in northern New South Wales,which could supply half of the state’s gas needs,has been at the front line of a years-long struggle between the gas industry and Australians worried about the impact of drilling on the environment and the climate. Santos has spent $1.5 billion and faced years of delays to approve the project amid thousands of objections over its feared impacts to the Pilliga state forest and contribution to global warming.