"The field price represents about 80% of the delivered cost of gas to most energy-intensive customers," AGA chairman Ollie Clark said. "Enhanced upstream competition is needed to capture the full pricing and market choice benefits of competition in the gas chain. Reducing gas transmission and distribution charges was always merely playing at the margins."

The push for energy reform comes in the wake of figures from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics, which forecast gas would achieve a 23.9% share of the energy market by 2019/20, revising downward an earlier forecast of a 28% share by 2014/15.

The AGA has called for more active government support to bring new gas basins on line, boosting supply competition. It also wants a policy requiring gas processing plant operators to open access to their plants to other producers, and requiring joint ventures partners to market their gas separately.

The AGA also wants licensing reform to ensure companies do not hold on to tracts without moving ahead with development.