If Western Australia was a country, it would be the world’s third largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Yet, despite the huge amounts of gas produced in WA annually, recent media reports claim the state is heading for a gas shortage.

How can WA be running short of gas when it is a globally significant producer?

Woodside’s North West Shelf Extension proposal is of particular concern as it would extend the life of Australia’s largest LNG facility for 50 years.

Despite the scale of this extension, approval is being sought without the project identifying gas supply sufficient for its LNG production capacity.

This is a fundamental difference between this project and all previous LNG projects in WA.

By locking in a major source of export demand without sufficient new supply, the NWS Extension has a strong incentive to attempt to redirect domestic gas for export.

This could permanently destabilise the WA domestic gas market.