The Australian economy is developing at a quicker rate since 2008 as local consumers continued to spend more money both on basic necessities and luxury commodities while European nations continue to experience the effects of the debt crisis.

This is shown by the growth of gross domestic product by more than 1 percent during the first half of 2011.

The energy economics group Energy Quest stated recently that Australia could become the world's major source of liquefied natural gas with more than 15 proposed endeavours and another eight that may start by the end of the year.

This development bodes well for the gas industry and the entire economy as well.

Mining Weekly publication reported that Energy Quest chief executive officer Graeme Bethune estimates that the value of LNG exports was expected to get bigger from approximately A$10 billion to A$40 billion annually.

But the implementation of these projects entails many challenges such as the aspects of costs, resources, natural calamities, varying government policies and politics, according to Bethune.

There are also other concerns confronting domestic gas customers like higher costs, shifting patterns of gas demand and the difficult process of acquiring contracts that must be dealt with.

What could prove beneficial to the Australian gas market is China's demand for LNG, which is expected to surge fivefold to 44 million tonnes per annum by 2020, while the emergence of 10 new importing countries in Asia could add another 27 million tonnes of new demand each year, according to Global Times.

"Philip Olivier, president of GDF Suez's LNG unit, said LNG demand in Asia and the Middle East was expected to grow by 95 million tonnes per year from 2010-2020 and although there was enough flexible supply in the medium term to satisfy Asian demand, new plants urgently needed to be build to meet long-term growth."

Australia should remain the top priority supplier because of its stability and proximity to Asian markets.

Last year, the gas reserves of the country amounted to 2.9 trillion cubic meters which represents more than 1 percent of the world's aggregate requirements. Growing demand from Asia has ignited infrastructure development.