BASS STRAIT GAS TO NEW SOUTH WALES—THE COMMERCIALISATION OF THE EASTERN GAS PIPELINE

Abstract

The Eastern Gas Pipeline is an 18-inch diameter pipeline running from Longford in Victoria to Horsley Park in Sydney, New South Wales—a distance of some 795 kms (Fig. 1).

While the construction of the pipeline in approximately 12 months is a considerable achievement, it took more than six years to establish the regulatory and market fundamentals to allow construction to commence. The commercialisation of the Eastern Gas Pipeline took place during a period in which the Australian gas industry was subject to much regulatory and market reform. The project provided some impetus for that reform, particularly in NSW.

The pipeline was the first interstate gas pipeline to be committed under the National Gas Pipeline Access Code. It also represented the means by which significant quantities of Bass Strait gas could be supplied to the NSW gas market for the first time.

This paper discusses the variety of commercial and regulatory issues that needed to be resolved to allow the Eastern Gas Pipeline to become a reality.