Madeleine King, Federal Minister for Resources, has determined that there is sufficient gas supply to meet domestic needs in Q3 2025.
In late March, Minister King convened meetings with Australia’s major east coast gas exporters to assess the outlook for east coast gas supply over the coming months as part of the Heads of Agreement with LNG exporters, designed to ensure uncontracted gas is offered to Australians first.
The Federal Government said it has also taken advice from the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) about the energy outlook.
The latest AEMO forecasts highlighted an improving medium-term outlook with annual gas market shortages pushed back to 2029. Importantly, this highlighted that there is sufficient supply of uncontracted gas to meet domestic needs until that time.
Updated advice from the ACCC shows that there is sufficient gas available in Q3 of 2025, but securing proactive commitments of 9PJ of gas prevents domestic demand being in competition with export customers.
The Federal Government said while the advice suggests the market will remain well supplied, it has taken action to secure additional supply commitments from gas exporters for Q3 under the Heads of Agreement.
Gas producers have committed to make an additional 9PJ of gas available for the domestic market in Q3.
These new commitments mean there will be a buffer of gas supply during a time of peak demand. The commitments involve a range of measures including call options to gas powered generators, expressions of interests, delayed shipments of LNG cargoes and seasonal gas swaps.
King said Australian consumers and businesses deserve to be able to buy Australian gas at reasonable prices and we’re making sure they can,” Minister King said.
“The winter months can see highly variable gas demand on days when the weather is cold in the southern states.
“Australians are under the pump and that’s why we acted decisively to take the sting out of energy and gas prices.”
The Federal Government will review gas market regulatory settings in mid-2025.
The review will examine the effectiveness of current mechanisms and strengthen the regulatory framework to ensure Australians have energy security for decades to come as we move to net zero by 2050.
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