WA's future energy supply still uncertain

WA Today reports that natural gas prices in WA are steadily being ratcheted up to international LNG prices - WA's future energy supply still uncertain.

The WA Government says there is still "a way to go" before the state will have enough electricity being produced to meet future demand, despite the signing of two major supply contracts.

Electricity producer Verve Energy and retailer Synergy have both signed gas supply agreements with the $43 billion Gorgon Project to take the place of their existing contracts when they lapse within the next four years. The deals are for a combined 125 terajoules of domestic gas per day and will run for 20 years.

Verve's plants supply more than 60 per cent of WA's electricity and rely on a combination of Woodside's North West Shelf gas as well as coal to reach their production targets and keep the lights on.

With Verve's gas supply deal with the Woodside-operated North West Shelf expected to lapse in 2016, the Gorgon deal would cover half of the energy producer's gas needs after the end of its existing contracts, a Verve spokesman said. ... However Verve is still shopping around for a supplier for the other half of its gas needs.