Incitec Pivot lifts the lid as gas prices start to bite INCITEC Pivot has become the first of the big industrial gas consumers to lift the lid on the explosive increase in eastern state gas prices as the market responds to the $70 billion in LNG export gas projects being built at Gladstone in Queensland. The fertiliser and explosives group revealed yesterday that it had signed a new gas supply agreement for its Phosphate Hill fertiliser manufacturing plant near Mount Isa in Queensland that would result in its manufacturing costs soaring by $50 million annually for the 2015 and 2016 calendar years, throwing doubts over the project's long-term viability and its 500 jobs. The price spike, caused by strong Asian demand for the gas, would swamp Phosphate Hill's current earnings capability, which is already under pressure from weak fertiliser prices, operational issues, and a weaker but still comparatively strong dollar.