This follows a Labor Party election promise to introduce some sort of tax relief for exploration investment, such as flow-through schemes.

However, Woodside’s shut-down of the Karratha gas plant last week due to an electrical fire is thought to have provided an impetus to speed up the introduction of the flow-through share schemes.

The scheme would entitle individual investors to tax deductions on investments in companies with specific exploration budgets.

The scheme is expected to boost the budgets for small and medium-sized explorers.

Despite high commodity prices, the level of exploration has fallen in the past decade.

This week The Australian newspaper reported that the Australian Government had agreed to move towards introducing the proposal in response to a call from WA’s Opposition Leader, Paul Omodei, who argued the state needed to secure more gas supplies for the domestic market.

He said this fact was highlighted by the gas shortage caused by the temporary closure of the North West Shelf Venture’s processing facility last week.

The Australian also reported that the WA Government has rejected duplicating the gas transmission system that links the North West Shelf gas fields to markets 1500km to the south as a way of securing supplies into the future.