Jemena asks some New South Wales customers to reduce gas use

Australian pipeline operator Jemena on November 16 asked customers in some areas of New South Wales to reduce their gas use, following a significant and unexpected increase in demand.

“As a result of an incident on the Young to Lithgow pipeline, supply to Wallerawang, Oberon, and Lithgow is currently being maintained via a temporary solution that involves gas being transported by an LNG truck into the region,” it said. “This solution is only able to supply a limited amount of gas and unseasonably cold weather has resulted in a significant increase in gas usage.”

Jemena said that energy infrastructure company APA is working to install a temporary pipeline solution at the site of the damaged pipeline at the Macquarie River. The work is being hampered by heavy rains.

APA crews anticipate being able to continue construction of the temporary pipeline on November 17 after repairing the access roads the previous day.

“Given these weather conditions, APA anticipates the completion of the temporary pipeline solution early next week, subject to weather. APA will continue to assess this on a daily basis,” Jemena said.

Australian east coast states are expected to see a gas shortfall next year. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has forecast a 56 petajoules shortfall to the east coast market for 2023.

In order to help boost domestic supplies, the Australian government late September signed a new heads of agreement with the three east coast LNG exporters. According to the heads of agreement, LNG exporters have to first offer uncontracted gas to the domestic market, on competitive terms, with reasonable notice, before exporting. In respect of uncontracted gas, domestic gas customers will not pay more for the LNG exporters’ gas than international customers.