Australia's gas race has begun

Three potential LNG projects are competing to fill eastern Australia's gas-demand supply gap

Western Port in the Mornington Peninsula is an unlikely spot for a transformational liquefied natural gas facility which could prise open eastern Australia's notoriously opaque, illiquid and under-regulated gas market. So is the fact that Australia—soon to become the world's largest LNG exporter—is even considering importing gas. Beach shacks line the sleepy, tree-fringed lanes which back onto scrub and a network of sandy paths down to the placid, muddy waters of Western Port Bay. It's the kind of place where holidaymakers from Melbourne come to do some crabbing or park up their caravan during the school holidays. For locals, the area is a low-key urban enclave where tired 1950s weatherboard