Rick Wilkinson
OGJ Correspondent
MELBOURNE, May 17 -- Australian Pipeline Trust (APT), Sydney, has signed a heads of agreement with the Northern Territory government and Power & Water Corp. (PWC) to build a $130 million (Aus.) natural gas pipeline to Darwin from Blacktip gas field in the Bonaparte Gulf.
The 275-km line will transport 30 PJ/year of gas and will extend from an onshore processing plant at Wadeye on the eastern shore of the gulf through the Northern Territory to connect with the Amadeus basin-to-Darwin line at Adelaide River.
APT has a 96% interest in NT Gas, operator of the Amadeus-Darwin line.
Blacktip field, in the Western Australian sector of the Bonaparte Gulf, is wholly owned by Eni Australia, which bought out former 50-50 partner Woodside Energy Ltd. last year.
Eni signed a gas supply deal with PWC in December 2005 to meet the Northern Territory's long-term power requirements from 2009. Contracts with Santos Ltd. and Magellan Petroleum Corp. for Amadeus gas expire in 2009.
Eni says the field's 1.2 tcf of reserves can meet PWC's additional supply needs for 22 years.
Field development could cost as much as $750 million (Aus.).