Lobbyists for the gas resource industry are pushing the Federal Government expand offshore and coal seam projects to avoid a predicted shortage in supply.

The Australian Pipeline Industry Association said at its annual conference in Adelaide last week that there were several issues on the horizon for gas supplies to the east coast of the country, with possible associated price increases.

Association chief executive Cheryl Cartwright has increased the pressure on the Federal Government to allow greater harvesting of gas resources in its upcoming energy white paper.

“If there is concern about the availability or the price of gas in the next few years the only way to address that is to ensure that those gas reserves are accessed and supplied into the market,” she said.

“There's no point ensuring that the market's operating efficiently if we don't have enough gas, so the answer always comes down to we need supply, we need gas to come onto the market.”

At the same conference Director of Gas Trading Australia, Mr Mike Lauer, said currently Australia is letting too much of its gas float overseas.

“The key challenge is to get the balance right between an infatuation with export, LNG, big project, sexy big dollars and the domestic market, which doesn't have all that sex appeal but is absolutely crucial, but is absolutely crucial for the wellbeing of Australia.”

“A really pragmatic approach is required from government to unblock some of the deadlocks that we have at the moment in terms of getting gas out of the ground, but as well as providing that incentive to industry and ensuring that the right investment signals are there.”

Other speakers accused east coast State Governments of refusing to properly exploit their own reserves, saying that domestic energy security is only possible if states start using their own supplies.