Shell warned on Tuesday that a proposal in Australia to force more export gas into the domestic market could end up deterring investment and exacerbating shortages.
Ahead of Australia's May 3 general election, energy has emerged as a major campaign issue with the conservative Liberal-National coalition pledging to bring down power bills and prevent a looming shortage on the east coast through a gas reservation scheme.
However, Shell Australia Chair Cecile Wake said export controls were not the right solution and questioned whether they would materially affect consumer prices.
"The fact that the easiest lever the federal government now has to solve the southern gas problem is export controls, is not a reason to pull that lever harder," she told a gas conference in Sydney.
"This does not increase supply; it simply redistributes it and when coupled with price caps and other market interventions, it can impede investment and exacerbate the challenge."
Australia produces more gas than domestic needs, but most supply is contracted for export. The competition regulator has warned the east could face a gas shortage by 2027.
Coalition opposition leader Peter Dutton said that if elected, his party would force exporters to direct 10% to 20% more product into the domestic market, with penalties for non-compliance.
Existing export contracts would be unaffected and the extra supply would instead come from uncontracted gas being sold on international spot markets.
The ruling center-left Labor party has focused on renewables but Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he would also be willing to use emergency powers to direct gas producers to divert supply in case of a shortage.
Wake criticized the "ideologically polarized and politicized debate about energy policy" and said the government should pursue policies that encouraged investment instead.
"Rather than redistributing an ever-diminishing pie, let's make the pie bigger," she said.
(Reuters - Reporting by Christine Chen in Sydney; Editing by Richard Chang)
