Manufacturer calls for more gas players Incitec Pivot has struck a deal to buy cheap natural gas to head off a supply crunch and is calling on the government to help new producers compete against bigger players. The fertiliser and explosives maker has linked up with Central Petroleum, which is developing a massive onshore area in the Northern Territory containing oil and gas. High gas users such as Incitec are seeking new supply sources to combat the looming spike in gas costs that will also hit household bills, as Australia's new large liquefied natural gas projects start exporting. Incitec's non-binding 15 petajoule per annum deal would be at prices below the current export levels it is paying and be enough to power one of its major plants, Phosphate Hill, for a year. However Central needs an 800km, $1.2 billion pipeline linking the Northern Territory to Australia's east coast to be built so it can move its gas. Central's chief executive Richard Cottee said the barriers to entry for small producers were too difficult, including hurdles to prove up reserves that would support 10 year-plus contracts. Incitec chief executive James Fazzino said governments had to act to avoid the mass heavy industry closures that hit the US six to seven years ago, when gas prices quadrupled to $US13 a gigajoule. "Only governments can have a total value chain view of the world rather than the narrow value chain view of a gas producer or even a chemical producer," he told reporters on Tuesday. Pipeline operator APA has expressed interest in building the pipeline, which has federal government support but not funding. However it was too difficult for smaller gas producers to break the gas supply monopoly currently dominated by four large players with pricing power, unlike the competitive US market, Mr Fazzino said. They are Origin Energy, Santos, AGL and QGC. "If the Australian east coast gas market is to function effectively, it needs supply competition which it doesn't have at the moment," he said. We see the development of new players in the emerging space as the key to unlocking the gas issue ... to households for heating, industrial users and even gas exporters who can purchase surplus production. News of the deal came as Incitec Pivot announced a 33 per cent fall in full year net profit to $247.1 million and warned of a decline in earnings for 2014/15. Heavy writedowns totalling $109.2 million were behind the profit fall. Excluding the impairments, there was 21 per cent growth in net profit to $356.3 million. Mr Fazzino said the businesses would face challenging market conditions in the resources and agricultural sectors in 2015. Earnings were tipped to decline in explosives in Australia, Turkey and Indonesia. Full year net profit of $247.1m, down 33pct from $367.1m in 2012/13 Revenue of $3.4bn, up 1.5pct from $3.4bn Final dividend of 7.3 cents per share, up from 5.8 cents