CNC contracted for Beetaloo-Darwin pipeline design

The Northern Territory government has let a contract to CNC Project Management worth $327,000 (Aus.) to plan a corridor for a pipeline to transport potential onshore gas resources from Beetaloo basin to Darwin.

The proposed pipeline will travel close to Tennant Creek, Elliott, Newcastle Waters, Daly Waters, Larrimah, Mataranka, Katherine, Pine Creek, Marakai and finish at Middle Arm on Darwin Harbour.

The prefeasibility analysis will consider routing options, engineering, geotechnical, environmental, financial, land use and sacred site considerations involved in the creation of a new gas corridor.

The 100-m wide pipeline corridor is proposed to closely follow the Stuart Highway and through Katherine and Pine Creek to reach Darwin.

The move means that the new line could be used to hook up with the line from Tennant Creek to Mt Isa and send any gas extracted by fracturing from the Beetaloo basin west to Tennant Creek and then through the new pipeline to Darwin for either processing or direct export.

Several companies, including Origin Energy and Santos, are advanced in Betaloo basin shale gas exploration since the government dropped a moratorium in April 2018.

Analysts say that the costs of extracting the gas from deep underground in the Beetaloo and sending it to Australia’s east coast could make the potential reserves commercially unviable, whereas a pipeline to Darwin is a better option.

One of the jobs proposed for the consultants is to consider landowner arrangements where the pipeline is to be laid north to Darwin.

The aim is to provide clarity to the Gas Taskforce and the NT government for future decisions regarding acquisition of a corridor to transport gas from on shore reserves to existing and planned gas industry infrastructure.

The pipeline could be used to transport gas and/or liquids.