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Plenty of gas in eastern Australia, says AGL

DESPITE some analysts' concerns over AGL Energy's lack of equity in gas reserves, the company doe...

Plenty of gas in eastern Australia, says AGL

Fraser said he didn't believe there would be any material impact on AGL's margins if gas prices rose.

"There's no shortage of gas in eastern Australia," he said in a corporatefile.com.au open briefing released to the Australian Securities Exchange.

"Currently eastern Australian gas reserves and contingent resources exceed 30,000 petajoules, of which only about 26 percent are contracted and there's every expectation that the industry will continue to deliver further reserve upgrades.

"Current reserves cover today's sales of 640 petajoules per annum for over 40 years."

Indeed, there would be a material oversupply of gas unless a major east coast liquefied natural gas project was developed to help commercialise these large reserves, according to Fraser.

AGL has an existing contract gas portfolio of about 3200PJ and according to Fraser has material depth and flexibility across multiple markets.

"We'll look to supplement that portfolio with additional equity gas and we have a medium-term target of 2000PJ," he said.

"We also see opportunities in the industry change occurring due to the large increases in upstream gas reserves following the emergence of the CSM sector."

The volatility in the wholesale electricity and gas markets, the intense competition in retail markets and the potential privatisation of the New South Wales generation and retail assets also provide growth opportunities for AGL, Fraser said.

At the company's Camden Gas project, 50km southwest of Sydney, AGL is continuing to roll out CSM production wells and coreholes.

According to a third quarter activity report released in May this year, 120 wells were drilled in the project area, of which 72 are now producing.

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