New Oz Pipe Brings NT Gas to Queensland
Australia’s natural gas producers have welcomed the December 14 opening of the Northern Gas Pipeline between Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory and Mount Isa in Queensland, said their industry group Australia Petroleum Production & Exploration Association (Appea). Its CEO Malcolm Roberts said the pipeline, built by Jemena, means northern Australia’s abundant gas resources will for the first time be able to be delivered to the gas markets of eastern Australia.
“The pipeline connection between the Northern Territory (NT) and Queensland means gas resources from the Timor Sea and onshore gasfields in the Beetaloo Basin and Central Australia will be able to be delivered to customers from Adelaide to Brisbane as well as regional areas such as regional Queensland which are significant users of gas.”
The pipeline will initially deliver around 90 terajoules/day – around 85mn ft³/day (0.88bn m3/yr) or 6% of eastern Australia’s average daily gas use, excluding what is fed into the Queensland liquefaction plants – with the future possible expansion of the pipeline potential increasing that substantially. The pipeline will further facilitate the development of additional shale and conventional gas resources in the NT, where gas producers hope to resume exploration activity after the lifting of the government’s moratorium on hydraulic fracturing earlier this year.
Whether they do so will depend on the government completing proposed updates to its regulatory framework to enable necessary environmental approvals to be processed. Other Australian states such as Victoria have been dragging their feet on shale gas exploration using fracking, leading to a shortage and higher prices, according to Appea.