APA Group has announced a five-year East Coast Gas Grid (ECGG) expansion plan to boost north-to-south gas transport capacity by about 24 per cent and add storage.

It has committed an initial investment of about $75 million over the next two years and is yet to lay out the costs of later stages of the project.

In Queensland, the project includes the proposed delivery of the Bulloo Interlink, a new 380km, 28-inch pipeline connecting the South West Queensland Pipeline (SWQP) to the Moomba Sydney Pipeline (MSP).

The Bulloo Interlink is designed to transport gas from northern basins such as the Surat in Queensland and the Beetaloo in the Northern Territory.

Engineering design and planning, along with long lead item procurement, is progressing as part of committed early works funding.

APA Group said its expansion plan would help ensure lower cost and lower emissions domestic gas was available to meet East Coast gas demand and to support the delivery of new gas-powered generation.

“Australia will need gas out to 2050 and beyond as a critical backup to renewables and to support many of Australia’s key manufacturing and industrial sectors,” APA Group chief executive officer and managing director Adam Watson said.

“These investments will help the Australian economy avoid the disastrous option of importing higher cost, higher emissions LNG, which will undermine domestic energy security and expose Australia’s energy market to global supply chains and prices.

“In contrast, APA’s investment will further support the development and commercialisation of Australia’s domestic gas industry, delivering critical security of supply and economic and employment benefits.

“More than 90 per cent of the east coast’s identified gas reserves are located in the north of Australia, including over 31,000 petajoules in the Surat and Bowen basins.

“The Northern Territory Government estimates that there are over 200,000 petajoules of gas in place in the Beetaloo, which can be unlocked and moved south to meet projected demand.”

The initial two stages of the expansion plan, set to add new north-to-south gas transport capacity in 2025 and 2026, include:

• The Moomba to Sydney Ethane Pipeline (MSEP) conversion project, targeting completion in 2025. APA will invest about $25 million to deliver this project.

• The MSP off-peak capacity expansion project, which will deliver two pressure regulation skids to increase capacity in summer months when pipeline maintenance is being undertaken. APA will invest about $15 million to deliver this project, with new capacity to come online in summer 2025 and 2026.

Medium-term projects that are progressing with early works to add material further north-to-south gas transport capacity and storage include:

• Stage 3 (expansion) – focusses on building capacity to move about 24 per cent more gas between northern basins and southern markets. This includes the proposed delivery of the Bulloo Interlink. The project would progressively increase MSP capacity from 590 TJ/day to 700 TJ/day. SWQP capacity would increase from 512 TJ/day to 605 TJ/day and capacity between Young and Melbourne would increase from 190 TJ/day to 229 TJ/day.

• Stage 4 (storage) – focusses on delivering new southern market gas storage to support AEMO’s forecast need for peaking gas-powered generation as more variable renewable energy is added to the National Electricity Market. It involves the delivery of the proposed new Riverina Storage Pipeline (RSP) in New South Wales along with new compression and pipeline infrastructure.

• Stage 5 (expansion) – adds flexibility and amplifies the investments made in Stages 3 and 4, delivering capacity upgrades into the Victorian Transmission System (VTS).

APA Group said the plan was designed to ensure there was sufficient capacity for domestic gas to supply southern market demand, to avoid the market shortfalls otherwise forecast by AEMO and the ACCC.

Modelling shows demand would be addressed to 2032, with the capacity to deliver further incremental expansion.

The initial investment and the early works funding form part of APA’s $1.8 billion development pipeline and will be funded from APA’s existing balance sheet.

Project FID for Stage 3, 4 and 5, will be conditional on early customer support, APA Board approval and any required regulatory approvals.