Victoria's government has approved plans by Coastal Gas Pipelines Victoria Pty. Ltd. (CGPV) to build, own, and operate a 104-mile natural gas pipeline in the Australian province.
The $25 million project, with an initial capacity of 30 MMcfd, will be the region's first privately owned pipeline. CGVP is a unit of Coastal Corp., Houston.
The pipeline will extend from existing infrastructure at Carisbrook to Stawell and Horsham, with a 9-mile spur to Ararat (see map, p. 40). Coastal will provide long-term transportation service to Kinetik Energy Co., Victoria's state gas distribution company.
Not coincidentally, Victoria's state parliament recently began considering a bill providing for the breakup of Victoria's Gascorp into three gas distribution businesses and three marketing businesses, each operating in separate geographical areas.
The long-awaited deregulation of Australia's natural gas industry provides an alluring investment climate that many companies seek to enter, especially as industry forecasts predict Australian gas demand growth at about 3%/year for the next 30 years (OGJ, Sept. 22, 1997, p. 29).
Although CGPV may be planning the first privately owned pipeline in Victoria, it may not be the last. Other proposed projects traversing Victoria include a BHP Petroleum Pty. Ltd.-Westcoast Energy Inc. gas pipeline from Langford, Vict., to Sydney (OGJ, Sept. 22, 1997, p. 43).
Other recently proposed Australian gas pipeline projects include an AGL Petroleum Ltd. project to build a pipeline from Wagga to Wodonga and a Chevron Corp. pipeline-plus a gas processing plant-from Papua New Guinea to North Queensland (Sept. 22, 1997, p. 30).
Copyright 1997 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.
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