It will affect pricing in a few ways generally but for CTP who only have one route to market and three different pipelines to reach Ballera the main way it will work is that the market will become more transparent so CTP will be able to tell more easily when they are getting gouged, and then refer that to arbitration.
That should make it easier to negotiate things like backhaul too.
All in all it sounds okay but I was hoping for more. I am generally supportive of limited intervention in free markets but the one area free markets fail badly is in monopoly situations and this is one of them. When there is clear evidence of predatory pricing (which Vertigan found), particularly when that action is having a very negative effect on the national economy like the gas crisis is, governments need to intervene.
If it were up to me I would be bringing any mature pipeline found to be engaged in predatory pricing into a full regulatory regime where their allowable tariffs are determined by their costs plus a rate of return. IMO the current situation in the Australian gas market is a stark example of market failure that will be in textbooks and case studies in the future.
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