Reposting New Gas Hub

As advised by the Mod, below is that same post resubmitted which includes the "Share This Story" part.

Thank you Mod for reviewing this situation.

Let is be sure though, that I wouldn't dare to post something that it would not allow me to do it. I have no personal barrows to push, nor gains to make, and all I want is to share anything which might be of interest to the shareholders/investors following these threads. It is then simply up to them to either accept them or reject them in their entirety.

In the future I will do my best to remember to incorporate that part at the end of the article.


"New gas hub launched"Wednesday, 1 June 2016

"REQUESTS from gas users reeling from the unprecedented changes in the east coast gas market have prompted the launch today of yet another gas supply hub to boost transparency and reliability.


The Australian Energy Market Operator this morning launched the Moomba Gas Supply Hub and two additional trading locations on the Moomba-to-Adelaide and the Moomba-to-Sydney pipelines.


The hub is an exchange for the wholesale trading of natural gas that allows participants to place anonymous offers or bids on a specified quantity of gas, at a specified price, which can then be automatically matched on the exchange to form transactions.


AEMO managing director and CEO Matt Zema said the establishment of the new Moomba supply hub stemmed from the request of a number of large users in New South Wales and South Australia.


“Following a detailed feasibility study and close consultation with the industry and governments, we are pleased to announce the Moomba Gas Supply Hub is open for trading,” Zema said.


The Moomba trading location uses the same trading platform, settlement systems, and is subject to the same regulatory framework as the three Wallumbilla trading locations.


Participants will have greater accessibility to trade between the southern markets and Queensland’s LNG market, whose meteoric rise of late is widely seen to be responsible for east coast gas prices rising.


This new hub is expected to provide greater market access to new participants, including smaller producers, large users and retailers in South Australia and NSW.


The trading locations at Moomba will also support innovation and development of gas services at Moomba, such as storage and title transfer services, AEMO said.


East coast gas demand is expected to soar from around 700 petajoules per annum in 2014 to around 1750–2200PJ pa in 2017-18 due to exports from the three Curtis Island LNG projects Australia Pacific LNG, Queensland Curtis LNG and Gladstone LNG.


These LNG projects have resulted in a fundamental change to the structure of the east coast gas market with the domestic industrial gas consumers raising concerns as to the inability to secure long terms gas supplies.


Gas suppliers, meanwhile, have been arguing that the gas market is functioning well.


Given these circumstances, law firm Clifford Chance said it would “take some time” for a “new equilibrium” to emerge as participants seek to capitalise on their investments.


The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said in its report on the east coast gas market in April that a large number of pipeline operators have been engaging in monopoly pricing which resulted in higher gas prices for consumers, and that the existing test for regulation was ineffective.


Less than 20% of the transmission pipelines on the east coast are subject to regulation which is much lower than comparable jurisdictions including the US, the European Union and New Zealand.


The ACCC also found that that greater investment in pipeline infrastructure was required to better connect gas reserves on the east coast to the market, including by alleviating the dependency of users in southern states on jointly marketed Gippsland Basin Joint Venture gas."


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