Gina Rinehart’s Senex in $1b domestic gas play as Labor’s King backs LNG

South Korean steel maker Posco will partner with Gina Rinehart to pump more gas into the domestic market with a $1 billion coal seam expansion, as the Albanese government insists the fuel is vital to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050.

Urging the Queensland government to make available more acreage for gas companies to extract under the state’s domestic reservation scheme, Ms King says the best solution to the tight domestic and international gas market is to pump more gas.

“The Queensland gas industry is doing the heavy lifting to ensure there is adequate supply in the two most populous states in the nation,” she says, in a reference to NSW and Queensland.

“I know that the Queensland gas industry is working hard to boost supply, while supply elsewhere is in rapid decline,” Ms King says in a thinly veiled swipe at Labor-led Victoria, where moratoriums and policy decisions to exit gas are hobbling the industry.

Ms King, who threatened last week to impose export restrictions on Queensland gas giants that fail to ensure sufficient domestic supply, will reiterate the government’s resolve in taking “whatever steps are needed” to avoid a repeat of the June energy crisis.

Gas exporters will in coming weeks negotiate with Ms King on a new heads of agreement to ensure sufficient domestic supply, after the ACCC accused the industry of working against the interests of domestic customers.

“I note since 2015 the Queensland government has released more than 20,000 square kilometres of area for gas exploration that must be sold exclusively to the domestic market.

Separately, Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen will announce an agreement on Thursday between the federal and Queensland governments to fast-track connection of the nation’s biggest wind farm precinct to the east coast electricity market