East Coast gas prices

Cooper Energy CEO says LNG imports 'cement a higher price' as alternative
"Frankly if there was an LNG import terminal or two we'd be quite happy because it cements that higher price as an alternative."
Mr Maxwell said that pricing for contracts had firmed slightly from $8-$10/GJ in the tight Victorian and South Australian markets.
"It has picked up for the longer-term market, absolutely," Mr Maxwell said.
Cooper's Sole projectis 64 per cent complete and set to start deliveries to customers including AGL Energy in July 2019. The project is set to drive a near five-fold surge in the junior's output in 2019-20, to more than 5 million barrels of oil equivalent.
Mr Maxwell said confidence in the outlook for the market had allowed Cooper to plan for the next phase of growth after Sole, including a four-well drilling program off Victoria to kick off in late 2019.
The comments came as Santos said it has added a fourth drilling rig to its operations in the Cooper Basin in central Australia, setting it up to drill almost 90 wells there this year, the most in any year since 2014.
Chief executive Kevin Gallagher said Santos is "breathing new life" into the Cooper Basin after reducing costs to a level that meant it could make the most of the region's vast discovered resources.
Meanwhile, consultancy EnergyQuest reported an increase in short-term east coast gas prices in July from June, with prices in Sydney, Adelaide and Victoria all in the $US9.50-$9.70/GJ range, while Brisbane averaged $9.92/GJ. It said prices still remain lower than LNG "netbacks", which represent the export price before liquefaction and shipping costs.

The increases came despite a drop of 8.4 petajoules in the use of gas for power generation in the south.
A 47-petajoule cut in forecast use of gas for electricity was a major factor behind the improved outlook for the east coast market from the Australian Energy Market Operator in June.
But Mr Maxwell described the power generation market as "the big unknown" for the gas market.
"All you need is one interruption and the boys are going to turn to gas to keep the lights on," he said. "That number is a reasonable baseline number but it could easily spike."

Australian Financial Review 13th August