Northern Gas Pipeline owner Jemena has released details of its strategy to bring Beetaloo Basin gas to the east coast market from as early as 2026.

Early-stage Beetaloo gas could supply up to 10 per cent of east coast gas market demand using existing pipeline infrastructure under its Northern Territory Gas Strategy, the company said.

Built between 2015 and 2019, the Northern Gas Pipeline is a 622km link between Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory and Mount Isa.

Jemena said up to 90TJ/d of Beetaloo gas could be transported via the Northern Gas Pipeline to the east coast gas market as soon as production began in the basin.

Under stage two of Jemena’s strategy, the Northern Gas Pipeline would be augmented and expanded to increase its capacity by about 45 per cent.

This would allow the pipeline to transport about 130TJ/d of gas from the Beetaloo Basin – roughly 10 per cent of typical east coast demand, Jemena said.

Additional stages of Jemena’s Northern Territory Gas Strategy would see the company look into building a new 370km pipeline lateral north from the Territory’s Barkly region to the Beetaloo Basin and further boosting Northern Gas Pipeline capacity in line with market demand.

“We’re listening to our stakeholders to understand how we can best meet their needs and make their projects a success,” Jemena managing director David Gillespie said.

“As a first step, we are conducting a market-led Expression of Interest (EOI) process to engage with producers in the Northern Territory as well as gas consumers to understand future pipeline needs within the Beetaloo Basin or the Northern Territory more broadly.   

“Our strategy focuses on effectively utilising established infrastructure rather than undertaking large-scale new infrastructure builds, which have an estimated capex investment of between $4-6 billion and won’t be complete until the early 2030s at the earliest.   

“By gradually augmenting the capacity of the Northern Gas Pipeline, we can match transportation capacity with production volumes, making the Northern Gas Pipeline the most cost-effective way of delivering Beetaloo gas to market.

“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.

“This gas is crucial for large industrials and Australia’s $100 billion manufacturing sector which simply cannot wait half a decade for new pipeline builds to be completed.”