For an industry entering its sunset years, Australian gas certainly is attracting an enormous amount of attention and money.
That deal was stymied at the final post by Australian Super, which marshalled enough support to vote down the deal on the floor at the extraordinary general meeting just before Christmas. That's now a primary factor behind what economists quaintly refer to as "sticky services inflation" and why we may be hit with even higher interest rates.
But in the meantime, the only viable source of quick and flexible energy is gas, which is why it is seen as the interim fuel in the energy transition. LNG prices doubled, averaging more than $16 a gigajoule that year, sending electricity prices into orbit. And that sent the earnings of each of our big gas exporters, including Santos, Origin and Woodside, soaring.