He told the 2005 Gas Industry Reform Conference in Wellington, New Zealand yesterday that the single, integrated monopoly supplier situations of the past had been replaced by competitive scenarios involving more players.
Reform of the Australian gas sector reform of the past 15 years had also resulted in cheaper gas, a doubling of pipeline infrastructure, more security of supply, and greater returns for gas companies.
Willett said Australian energy infrastructure companies had out-performed the ASX 200 index, so they were not being unfairly held back by regulation.
Gas Code outcomes were accelerating growth in gas consumption, with average growth since 1995 being 4% per annum. The proportion of gas in the overall Australian energy equation had increased from 12% to 20%, while total pipeline lengths had doubled to 28,000km since 1997.
The ACCC wanted “free and fair trade” for gas and Australian gas consumption had increased from about 700 petajoules a year to over 1000PJ now. There also had been increased investment under the Gas Code, from less than A$100 million 10 years ago to about A$500 million earlier this decade, according to Willett.
Australia had enough natural gas reserves to last for over 100 years at present rates of consumption. But most of the gas reserves were in Western Australia, while most of the demand growth was on the east coast or the south-east.
Willett said he believed three of the four new gas supply options facing Australia would go ahead – new reserves in southeast Australia, the commercial development of coalbed methane, and the PNG-Queensland gas pipeline.
But he doubted whether north-western reserves would be connected to south-east Australia via a new pipeline.
Willett said Australian energy infrastructure companies had out-performed the ASX 200 index, so they were not being unfairly held back by regulation.
Despite the reforms so far, more needed to be done, he said.
The next steps in energy regulation were the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC), with responsibility for rule-making and market development, and the Australian Energy Regulator (AER), which would be responsible for market regulation and enforcement.
The ACCC would continue its enforcement and authorisation functions, and the approval of access codes and undertakings. The AER is to assume control of transmission revenue regulation and the National Gas Code. The ACCC, AEMC and AER were also empowered to share relevant information.
The ACCC also retained an authorisation and merger function regarding REMCo, VENCorp and the PNG pipeline.
The third annual gas industry reform conference was hosted by major events organiser Conferenz.
