The increase in east coast gas prices, which are cheap by international standards, was always expected once the alternative of exporting them to Japan, China and Korea was opened up by Gladstone's LNG plants. But the speed with which the market tightened has surprised many.
Illustrating this, and the effect the projects will have on the whole interlinked east coast gas market, the latest gas market review boosted long-term Queensland forecasts for NSW, Victorian, South Australian and Tasmanian gas prices by up to 50 per cent from the previous year's report.
The scenario that concerns the commissioner shows that next year there could be a shortfall of 425PJ of Queensland gas reserves versus demand.
