RE: NGIP aims to ensure supply and internationally competitive prices2 Dec 2021 18:16
Maximising supply
The NGIP identifies the following new short-term supply options:
Onshore: Bowen-Surat and Cooper Eromanga basins by 2023; and
Offshore: Bass, Otway and Gippsland basins.
It also identifies that developing additional southern storage and an LNG import terminal will help to ensure the risk of shortfalls is alleviated in the short term, while new fields in the existing Bass, Otway and Gippsland basins are brought online. Development of the Golden Beach Gas Storage and Iona Gas Storage projects is identified as critical to delivering additional supply security, particularly during winter months.
In the longer term, the NGIP indicates that, without action, progressive declines in production from existing northern and southern basins will lead to shortages of gas. The NGIP identifies that at least one new basin will need to be brought online before 2030 to meet projected east coast domestic gas demand and export contracts. Basins identified as critical to unlock, out to 2030 include:
the Gunnedah basin (Narrabri) (NSW);
the Beetaloo sub-basin (NT);
the Galilee basin (Qld); and
the North Bowen basin (Qld).
Strategic expansions to existing pipeline capacity and the construction of entirely new pipelines will be needed to transport gas supplies to east coast markets, and expanded transportation capacity from north to south is required as northern supply expands and southern supply declines. In particular, enhanced pipeline capacity will be important during peak periods when pipelines can become constrained.
Subject to the results of ongoing exploration and appraisal activity over the next two to three years, the pipeline development sequence identified in the NGIP to connect new basins to the east coast market includes:
a new pipeline (contingent on Beetaloo development) to connect early stage Beetaloo to existing infrastructure, to be completed by 2025, then upgraded sequentially from 2028 as larger Beetaloo volumes come online;
expansions to the Amadeus Gas Pipeline, Northern Gas Pipeline (the NGP) and Carpentaria Gas Pipeline (the CGP) to transport initial Beetaloo volumes, to be completed by 2025;
twinning the NGP and CGP to transport higher Beetaloo volumes, to be completed by 2028;
a new pipeline to connect the NGP at Mount Isa to the new Galilee Gas Pipeline (the GGP), to be completed by 2028 if the Beetaloo development goes large scale;
a new pipeline (contingent on South Galilee development), connecting the NGP extension to Injune, to be completed by 2028;
a new common user pipeline (contingent on North Bowen development), connecting Moranbah to the east coast gas market by 2028;
twinning the Queensland Gas Pipeline to facilitate Beetaloo and Galilee/North Bowen supply by 2028; and
a new pipeline connecting Gunnedah to the east coast gas market by 2026 (contingent on Narrabri Gas Project development).
cont.......