Natural gas use set to rise: Macfarlane \


Australia's domestic use of natural gas could rise by as much as 17 per cent a year, federal Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane says.
He told an Australian Pipeline Industry Association (APIA) lunch in Brisbane on Wednesday that increasing local use of natural gas was a high priority for the government.
"Gas production in Australia is expected to increase by six to seven per cent a year for the next 20 years," Mr Macfarlane said.
"But I will be pursuing a reform process to increase that growth, hopefully by another 10 per cent or so, on an annual basis."
The first step was to dismantle state-based regulatory systems.
A draft of the new National Gas Law would be released soon, detailing about $4.2 billion worth of major gas pipelines which were either planned or under construction, Mr Macfarlane said.
"From there, a number of market reforms should be considered as part of ensuring we have a truly authentic national gas market and can grow usage rates at a rate of more than 10 per cent annually," he said.
The proposed reforms include establishing a single national gas market operator to manage both the wholesale and retail gas markets.
But APIA chief executive Cheryl Cartwright said the federal government's reform regime was ambiguous and could cost the national gas transmission industry dearly.
Ms Cartwright said APIA's board had raised a number of issues with Mr Macfarlane before he addressed the luncheon and the minister said there would be full consultations before legislation was introduced in parliament.
"The industry fought hard to retain the right to appeal against a decision by the national regulator but it now appears that new conditions attached to that appeal mechanism could disadvantage the gas industry," Ms Cartwright said.
"Industry is also concerned about policy changes that will give the national regulator greater control over commercial decision-making by gas pipeline owners."
© 2006 AAP