For a country that’s vying with Qatar for the title of the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, Australia’s domestic network can look remarkably dysfunctional. Victor Li’s CK group of companies in June offered investors in pipeline operator APA Group A$13 billion ($9.2 billion) to buy the company, which has around two-thirds of the available capacity in Australia’s eastern gas transmission market. “A lot of people who complained about the acquisition were complaining about the market power APA already has,” Sims said by phone. The problem for Australia is that this situation is scaring away competitors, leaving the transmission network in the hands of CK group and Jemena. That’s by no means guaranteed: CK group was knocked back in its attempt to buy a majority stake in electricity distributor Ausgrid in 2016.

Source: Washington Post September 12, 2018 06:56 UTC