Earning community trust to operate – Northern Gas Pipeline
Jonathan SpinkJemena, Level 16, 567 Collins Street, Melbourne, Vic. 3000, Australia. Email: jonathan.spink@jemena.com.au
The APPEA Journal 58(2) 609-611 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ17168
Accepted: 22 March 2018 Published: 28 May 2018
Abstract
The Northern Gas Pipeline (NGP), is a 622-km gas pipeline in outback Australia that will connect gas reserves in the Northern Territory to the east coast gas market. With the current east coast gas crisis and continuing pressure to reduce coal-fired base load power, this project creates a new market to deliver additional gas to the east coast.
The project includes the construction of the pipeline and two compressor station facilities at the start and end of the line: the Phillip Creek Compressor Station, which includes gas processing infrastructure, and the Mount Isa Compressor Station. The AU$800 million project began in November 2015 and first gas is scheduled to flow in late 2018.
The bid to contract the pipeline included a range of local and Indigenous commitments that would maximise local participation in the project, ensuring that the social licence to achieve land access and government approvals was realised while keeping to a very aggressive timetable.
Jemena worked closely with local businesses, communities and Traditional Owners to provide training and development opportunities, employment and other social support services.
This approach has meant that the project is on track to deliver this nationally significant gas pipeline under budget, ahead of the contractual schedule requirement, while meeting or exceeding all local obligations and commitments.
Keywords: community, gas transmission, Indigenous, infrastructure, natural gas, pipeline, safety, stakeholders.
Jonathan Spink is a graduate of The University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering with Honours. Jonathan serves as an active member of the Australian Pipelines and Gas Association (APGA) and the Petroleum Club NT. Jonathan is the Northern Gas Pipeline Project Director for Jemena. He has had the privilege of working for Epic Energy, APA Group and Jemena over the course of his career. Jonathon started with Jemena in 2005 as a graduate engineer in the operations engineering team supporting their gas transmission pipelines. Since then he has specialised in the delivery of gas transmission compressor station and pipeline projects, having delivered three midline compressor stations on Jemena’s Eastern Gas Pipeline (EGP) and Queensland Gas Pipeline (QGP), and a residential transmission pipeline in Victoria for Multinet Gas. In recent years Jonathon left Jemena and delivered the Moomba Compressor Station project and interconnect pipeline as an employee of Epic Energy and then the APA Group, before coming back to Jemena in the role of project director on their gas major projects. As project director Jonathon oversaw further expansion works on the EGP and QGP, including additional compression and pipeline looping works, and a Wilton Interconnect project between EGP and Moomba Sydney Pipeline. Jonathan was the project director on Jemena’s North East Gas Interconnector winning bid, and is now proud to have the honour of delivering this critical national infrastructure project. |
