Domestic gas producers will be made to reserve up to 25 per cent of production for the Australian market under the federal government's east coast gas reservation plan.
Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen said the landmark gas policy announced today would push down prices and fortify the east coast industry by engineering a "slight oversupply".
The scheme has been earmarked to begin in 2027 but will be applied prospectively to new contracts from today.
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Chief among the key principles of the scheme is a requirement that exporters will reserve between 15 and 25 per cent of gas production for the local market.
Bowen said this would represent around 200 to 350 petajoules of gas per year.
"We believe that this is good policy based on our experience from Western Australia over recent decades, which has developed a strong and robust gas industry which has exported but has also catered for Western Australia's needs," Bowen said.
"We need to provide certainty to Australian industry that contracts entered into from today will need to ensure adequate domestic supply going forward."
Bowen said the scheme would put "downward pressure" on gas costs but could not confirm an expected figure.
Bowen said that it made "no sense" that Australia could be one of the largest gas producers in the world and still experience a shortfall.
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"Most Australians think that Australians should have first rights to that's under Australian soil," he added.
"And that gas should be available to Australians at reasonable prices. Australians are right about that."
A report handed down last month claimed that Australia has exported enough gas to supply domestic needs for two decades.
The report also found that Australians pay between four and seven times more for gas than other large, gas-producing nations, including the US, Russia, Qatar, and Canada.
The federal government commissioned a six-month review of the market earlier this year as the country faced a looming gas shortage.
The scheme will be designed in consultation with the industry, international partners and the community next year.
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