There is also a fair degree of scepticism in respected circles...

There is also a fair degree of scepticism in respected circles about the imminent gas glut.

The US haven’t actually issued export licences yet, and I don’t believe they’re about to give up the first opportunity they’ve had in years to be energy self-sufficient. So they will probably only issue a couple of licences. Even then, once they’re ready to export (which will take years, as we’ve seen here) the transport costs would mean that delivery to Asia would dictate a cost of around $12, that is even with the widening of the panama canal which won’t be complete until 2014. Africa has a lot of gas but with political, financial and infrastructure constraints don’t expect them to come on line any time soon. Canada could certainly come to the party, but the same transport costs exist. While that discusses the supply side, let’s also not forget that demand for gas is predicted to explode over the next decade meaning much of the new supply will be soaked up anyway.

Beyond all that, domestic consumers aren’t going to be able to participate in the LNG development for their own needs, they will need direct feed gas. Currently NSW imports majority of its gas and given that MEL seems destined to be the only major independent gas producer left (with the largest reserves), they could very well become the major provider. And that is before they supply to ERM power who are a growing energy supplier in the region.

And then there’s floating LNG which has been shown to be economic in a study conducted by Worley and commissioned by MEL, this could be a real kicker.

Yes the media are doing a cracking job of doing what they do best, but I think there is light on the other side.