West-East Gas Pipeline
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The West-East Gas Pipeline is a proposed natural gas pipeline.[1]
Location
The pipeline would run from northwest Western Australia to the Moomba gas hub in Moomba, South Australia. One of multiple proposed routes is shown below.[2]
Project details
- Parent company:
- Capacity: 554.82 million cubic feet per day / 650 terajoules per day[3]
- Length: between 2,530 and 3,185 kilometers, depending on route selection[3][2]
- Status: Proposed
- Cost: AU$6 billion[4]
Background
The West-East Gas Pipeline was first proposed in the 1970s by Federal Energy Minister R.F.X. Connor, who opposed exporting North West Shelf gas as LNG and wanted to supply it to Australia’s domestic market.[1] In Western Australia, environmental groups have raised concerns that a December 2017 decision to cancel an agreement for two gas projects was made as part of a plan to instead build the West-East Gas Pipeline.[5]
ACIL-Allen, working in partnership with engineering firm GHD, was contracted in late 2017 by the federal government to carry out a pre-feasibility study on the West-East Gas Pipeline. The study was due to be completed by March. This was the first time a pre-feasibility study would be carried out for the potential pipeline, confirming the concerns of local environmental groups. Despite this development, the future remains in doubt as other gas supply plans challenge its construction.[6] Completed in March 2018, the ACIL-Allen report recommended a 2900-kilometer route from Karratha to Moomba.[3] The report found that the project was not feasible unless it was "supplied by cheap gas that WA consumers are barred from buying."[3] Acting Federal Energy Minister Matt Canavan responded that the study showed that the West-East Pipeline was not the "most economical model" for increasing gas supplies to southeast Australia.[3]
In June 2020, Jemena proposed the Port Kembla to EGP Gas Pipeline as a shorter, cheaper way to deliver gas to eastern Australia.[7] Despite a lack of progress on the West-East Gas Pipeline since 2018, it was included in a May 2020 report on projects the government hoped could stimulate the economy after the crash caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.[8]
In August 2020, the government of Western Australia imposed a ban on exporting natural gas to eastern Australia, and advocates of the West-East Gas Pipeline said this would effectively cancel the project.[9]
In 2022, an article in ABC News featured the West-East Gas pipeline, since Australia's gas crisis had prompted renewed interest in the idea of a trans-Australian pipeline. Project supporters said that a west-east pipeline could "help address the energy crisis on the east coast" and potentially carry hydrogen in the future.[10] However, the article suggests that such a project would cost billions and that it would be an unlikely, ineffective solution that could become obsolete even before being finished.[10]
Articles and resources
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Australian government resurrects west-east gas pipeline concept, Oil & Gas Journal, Apr. 21, 2017, accessed Aug. 9 2021.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 ACIL ALLEN CONSULTING (March 22, 2018). "WEST–EAST PIPELINE PRE-FEASIBILITY STUDY" (PDF). Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Peter Milne, West-east gas pipe dream fails to add up, The West, Jan. 16, 2019, accessed Aug. 10, 2021.
- ↑ Angela Macdonald-Smith, $6b trans-Australia gas pipeline gets fresh legs, The Australian Financial Review, May 19, 2020, accessed Aug. 10, 2021.
- ↑ 'East-to-west' gas pipeline could be on the cards for WA's north, WAtoday, Dec. 9, 2017
- ↑ WA to east coast gas pipeline takes leap forward, Sydney Morning Herald, Oct. 30, 2017, accessed Aug. 9, 2021.
- ↑ Mark Ludlow, Imported gas is cheaper than WA pipeline, says Jemena boss, Australian Financial Review, Jun. 11, 2020, accessed Aug. 9, 2021.
- ↑ Emma Young, West-east pipeline back on agenda as government looks to gas to save Australia, Sydney Morning Herald, May 21, 2020, accessed Aug. 9, 2021.
- ↑ Daniel Mercer, Colin Barnett attacks WA's updated domestic gas policy, saying it is 'un-Australian', ABC News, Aug. 21, 2020, accessed Aug. 9, 2021.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Experts call for west-east gas pipeline amid energy crisis, but not everyone thinks it's the right solution". Retrieved 2023-08-01.
