New gas commitment set to boost SA’s energy security
The final project to receive funding under the $17.5 million South Australian Gas Initiative will expand the state’s energy security options, potentially supplying enough new gas to meet the heating, hot water and cooking needs of up to 150,000 average homes.
Amplitude Energy has been awarded $2.5 million to support its East Coast Supply Project through enhancements to the processing capacity at its Athena Gas Plant and backing its development program.
The East Coast Supply Project is a gas supply development considered capable of delivering new gas volumes into South Australia prior to the end of 2028.
Through the Initiative’s support for the East Coast Supply Project, Amplitude Energy will reserve 5 petajoules of new gas from the project’s future production to South Australian customers over its first four years of gas production. This volume of gas would be sufficient to meet the heating, hot water and cooking needs of up to 150,000 average homes annually.
The project will see Amplitude Energy continue its long history of supplying natural gas to South Australia and the broader east coast gas market.
The project brings the total of grants allocated under SAGI to $17.5 million.
Estimates suggest that when delivered in full, the projects could deliver more than 20 petajoules of gas into the South Australian market, putting downward pressure on wholesale gas costs.
The SA Gas Initiative commenced in 2025, offering grant funding of up to 50 per cent of expenditure on significant projects that help the state meet its mid to long-term energy needs. It offered up to $2.5 million in funding for projects that would stimulate investment in a range of projects to increase gas supply, capacity, or both.
Projects recommended for funding are located in the known Cooper and Otway Basins, and include drilling wells in new and existing fields, investments in pipeline connections, and assessing the feasibility of underground gas storage.
Quotes
Attributable to Tom Koutsantonis
Concerns about fuel supply, triggered by the war in the Middle East, have highlighted how critical energy security is to every nation, and every state.
It’s essential that we do everything we can to secure a diversity of energy sources, and we’re fortunate in Australia to have strong, cooperative relationships among states and territories that facilitate the exchange of energy between neighbours.
Amplitude Energy is an SA-headquartered energy company servicing the domestic gas needs of the east coast and southern markets.
Support from the SA Gas Initiative will help not only bring new gas supply to South Australia, but more broadly to the east coast and southern markets of Australia.
Combined with the other co-funded projects set to facilitate enhanced or new gas supply sources from within SA, we’ll be well-placed to weather this and future energy shocks – while also reinforcing our world-leading renewable energy system with dispatchable energy from lower-emissions, Australian-sourced fuels.