Australia Pacific LNG Pty Limited & Ors

On 24 February 2021 Australia Pacific LNG Pty Limited, QCLNG Operating Company Pty Ltd and GLNG Operations Pty Ltd (together, the Applicants) lodged an application for re-authorisation to continue to coordinate the timing and scheduling of maintenance events at their LNG facilities on Curtis Island for a further 5 years. The Applicants are seeking re-authorisation because an existing authorisation (authorisations A91516 and A91517), granted with condition by the ACCC in 2016, expires on 6 May 2021.

The conduct is that same as that conditionally authorised by the ACCC in 2016. However, the Applicants are seeking to change the condition during the course of the next 5 years. The existing condition requires the Applicants to publicly disclose maintenance schedule information that they have shared with one another, and to ensure that information remains accurate. The Applicants propose that the reporting condition continue in the short term but cease to apply when anticipated reporting requirements pursuant to the Gas Transparency Measures under the National Gas Law commence.

Because the existing authorisation is likely to expire before the ACCC has made a final decision about the application for re-authorisation the Applicants also sought interim authorisation to enable the existing conduct to continue while the ACCC considers the application for re-authorisation.

On 5 May 2021, the ACCC decided to grant interim authorisation, with condition, and issued a draft determination proposing to grant re-authorisation, with condition, for 5 years.

On 5 August 2021, the ACCC issued a final determination. For the reasons set out in the final determination, the ACCC has re-authorised the arrangements with a condition requiring the Applicants to publicly disclose maintenance schedule information that they have shared with one another. The authorisation will remain in place until 31 August 2026.