Australia’s east coast could face gas shortages from 2027, a year earlier than anticipated, the country’s competition regulator said on Friday, calling for an urgent need to develop new sources of production and supply.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said in an interim update that the warning reflects potential lower supply due to delays in approvals for new projects, reported the news agency Reuters.
The ACCC’s warning came two weeks after Australia’s energy market operator reported that the east was facing an immediate gas shortage following a cold snap that increased demand for heating. Meanwhile, supply dipped due to an extended outage at the region’s main gas plant.
Australia produces more gas than it needs to meet its domestic demands, but most of the supply is contracted for export.
The decision to extend the closure of Origin Energy’s Eraring coal-fired power plant, the country’s largest, by two years until 2027, improved the energy outlook but did not change “the fundamental trajectory of supply,” the ACCC report said.
