Manufacturers are sounding the alarm as east coast gas prices surge to levels not seen since 2016, thanks to cold winter weather and gas having to be diverted to generate electricity after the breakdown of coal-fired generators.The spike in domestic gas to as much as $10 a gigajoule above export prices has triggered renewed calls from industrial gas users for the federal government to step in and redirect exported gas from Queensland to force prices lower.Energy Users Association of Australia chief executive Andrew Richards said there were growing fears the market was heading back to the worst days of the east coast gas crisis.“We are seeing storm clouds on the horizon. Last time I checked JKM was trading at $18 a gigajoule,” he said, referring to the benchmark spot price for LNG in Asia, which is now almost $10 a gigajoule lower than the east coast domestic price.“I would say these coming months represent a real test for the gas industry and we will know if [the producers] are fair dinkum about looking after their domestic customers.”The winter cold snap in the south-eastern states has combined with the impact of generator outages in Queensland and Victoria to drive up wholesale gas prices in Sydney to about five times their average of earlier in the year.
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