Northern Gas pipeline owner Jemena has released details of its strategy to bring Beetaloo Basin gas to the east coast gas market.
Jemena’s Northern Territory Gas Strategy will utilise existing infrastructure to transport Beetaloo gas to the east coast from as early as 2026, a move that the company says is the quickest and cheapest way to bring Beetaloo gas to market.
Under the strategy, Jemena can bring up to 90 terajoules per day of gas (TJ/d) to the east coast market using the Northern Gas Pipeline as soon as production begins in the basin.
The Northern Gas Pipeline can be expanded to increase its capacity by about 45 per cent, meaning the pipeline will be able to transport around 130 TJ/d of gas from the Beetaloo Basin, or roughly 10 per cent of typical east coast demand.
Jemena managing director David Gillespie said the company is focused on understanding the needs of the market to ensure that its gas strategy reflects the reality on the ground. The company is fielding expressions of interest from producers in the Northern Territory as well as gas consumers to under future pipeline needs.
Gillespie said Jemena’s strategy relies on using existing infrastructure to deliver Beetaloo gas quickly. The company has also learned from the planning and construction of the AU$800 million Northern Gas Pipeline.
“Our strategy focuses on effectively utilising established infrastructure rather than undertaking large-scale new infrastructure builds, which have an estimated capex investment of between AU$4-6 billion and won’t be complete until the early 2030s at the earliest.
“This is a win-win for upstream gas producers and consumers as it will enable Beetaloo gas, particularly early-stage Beetaloo gas, to be delivered to market quickly and without the price tag associated with large-scale new infrastructure builds,” he said.
“This gas is crucial for large industrials and Australia’s AU$100 billion manufacturing sector which simply cannot wait half a decade for new pipeline builds to be completed.”
Further stages of the company’s gas strategy will explore works to construct a new 370-kilometre pipeline lateral north from the state’s Barkly region to the Beetaloo Basin.
The Beetaloo Basin, spanning 28,000 sqkm, is one of Australia’s most promising new sources of natural gas with estimates suggesting it contains more than a thousand times Australia’s annual domestic gas consumption.
