APA to expand Victoria-NSW gas capacity

OREANDA-NEWS. July 27, 2015. Australian pipeline operator APA Group plans to increase gas transmission capacity by 30TJ (801,000m?) to allow more gas flows from Victoria to New South Wales (NSW) at a cost of A\\$85mn (\\$62.5mn).

The expansion will be done through the looping of both the pipeline from Moomba in South Australia to Sydney and the Victorian transmission system. The projects have already started and construction is expected to be completed by mid-2016, APA said.

The expansion comes as APA confirmed its interest in buying the 22PJ (587mn m?) Iona gas storage plant in Victoria that its current owner EnergyAustralia is considering selling. APA already owns the 0.68PJ Dandenong LNG storage facility in Victoria, so the purchase of the Iona facility would make the group the largest owner of gas storage facilities in east Australia's domestic gas market.

APA also owns the Central West and Central Ranges pipelines in NSW.

Victoria is the largest supplier of gas into NSW, with most of this gas coming from the Gippsland Basin Joint Venture that is a 50:50 partnership between operator ExxonMobil and UK-Australian resources firm BHP Billiton.

The joint venture is also spending about A\\$5.6bn on the Turrum-Tuna-Kipper gas fields in the Gippsland basin and includes the gas conditioning plant. The project plans to develop 400mn bl of oil equivalent and is expected to start in 2016. The field holds about 620bn ft? of recoverable gas and 30mn bl of condensate and LPG.