It’s easy to forget that a year ago, Australia had no national government strategy supporting the critical role that gas plays in our energy system. There have been many positive steps across our industry over the last 12 months.

Today, we have a national Future Gas Strategy, which makes it clear that “natural gas is needed through to 2050 and beyond” – to support industry, keep the lights on, and facilitate investment in renewable energy. One of the strategy’s six guiding principles makes it clear that new sources of domestic gas supply are critical to support the energy transition.

We’re also seeing a shift in community sentiment towards gas. For example, in key electorates in Western Australia, more than 70 per cent of Greens voters believe natural gas is important to the state’s economy, according to Australian Energy Producers.¹

GSOO and gas supply

The release of the Australian Energy Market Operator’s 2025 Gas Statement of Opportunities (GSOO) also acknowledges that gas will play a critical role in our energy mix for decades to come.

Importantly, the GSOO confirmed that – with pipeline expansions and upgrades, including those being progressed by APA – there is sufficient supply, including intra-day supply, coming from the domestic market to meet demand until 2034.

New gas supplies from Bass Strait, which could extend Longford capacity well into the 2030s, coupled with the delivery of new projects in northern gas basins such as the Surat and the Beetaloo, will ensure Australian gas is available to power our economy and key industries for the long term.

In 2025, the East Coast market is forecast to consume around 500 PJs of natural gas. To put this number into perspective, the Surat basin in Queensland alone has more than 10,000 PJs of uncontracted proven and probable gas reserves (2P) and contingent gas resources (2C).²

And, the Northern Territory Government estimates there are over 200,000 petajoules of gas in the Beetaloo, which could be used to support both Australia’s domestic requirements, as well as export markets, for decades to come.

So, it’s clear - there’s no shortage of domestic gas to meet the shortfall. We just have to get it out of the ground and transport it to where it’s needed.

With the right policy settings in place, we should not expect to see a domestic natural gas supply constraint over the near term. Yes, southern basin supply potentially diminishes in the early 2030s, but we will continue to have low-cost gas available from the Surat and uncontracted domestic gas from the LNG exporters to address seasonal peaks.

And we will have new basins coming online in the Bass Strait and the Beetaloo. This means that, not only can we comfortably meet domestic demand requirements, we can also support a strong LNG export market over the long term, delivering economic benefits to Australia, and supporting our global trade partners with their own energy transitions.

Investing in transport infrastructure

Strong demand from both industry and households for natural gas is what’s driving the need to develop new gas fields and increase capacity on our East Coast Gas Grid. Demand has given APA the confidence to announce our plan to increase north to south transport capacity by about 25%, as well as the delivery of new southern markets storage to support the growing need for gas powered generation.

With the support of our customers, we will add capacity every year, for five years – building on our long track record of investing and increasing gas transport capacity on the east coast.

By expanding capacity incrementally to meet demand, APA will help avoid annual gas shortfalls out to 2034 in a highly cost-effective way. Beyond this, we also have plenty of options to further expand - pipeline capacity will also not be a constraint, despite what you hear from others.

Government and industry need to work together

This is all positive progress, but there is still more to do.

The gas industry must continue to work together to ensure we further develop the domestic gas market, to deliver mutually beneficial outcomes for our industry, and Australian energy consumers.

While we must protect the long-term existing LNG export contracts, new gas development must ensure Australian gas users have access to reliable and affordable gas. This then underwrites a strong LNG export market.

Gas producers and energy users must also be open to longer-term agreements that can help support investment in vital new transport infrastructure to move gas to where it is needed.  

This must be supported by regulatory certainty and policies to encourage new domestic gas supply. For large energy users, talk of subsidies or government support for LNG import terminals can make it challenging for them to commit to the long-term contracts needed to support new basin developments.

This means governments must take a long-term, stable approach to domestic gas development, to support investment in new gas supply and transport infrastructure. This will in turn provide gas users and shippers with the confidence they need to make long-term commitments to underwrite the investment required.

It’s reassuring to recently see both sides of politics recognise the need to increase gas supply to the domestic market. While we won’t be drawn on support for specific policies, APA strongly believes producers must make sure that enough domestic gas is available to meet demand. Industry needs to work with government to set the volume that needs to be committed to our domestic market, to ensure that our economy thrives and that there’s enough incentive to develop at scale for the export market.

Getting this formula right will ultimately deliver low-cost gas for Australia’s consumers. And ensuring this happens goes to our industry’s social licence. When we speak with gas producers, I know they understand this. What they are looking for, is clear and fair policy that supports it.

¹ https://energyproducers.au/all_news/opinion-article-by-samantha-mcculloch-in-the-west-australian-on-natural-gas-powering-the-wa-economy/

² 2P references estimates of proved and probable reserves expected to have a better than 50% chance of being technically and economically produced and 2C are those that are less certain and potentially recoverable.