(EnergyAsia, September 21 2010, Tuesday) — Australia is now well and truly on the world pipelines map, with an increasing amount of attention from other countries on the development of our major coal seam gas-to LNG projects, said Peter Cox, President of the Australian Pipeline Industry Association (APIA), last week.

“It really is an unprecedented time in the Australian pipeline industry, especially with the number of opportunities ahead of us,” he told delegates at the opening business session of APIA’s 42nd Annual Convention and Exhibition in the Australian city of Darwin.
 
“For instance, in Queensland we have four large CSG-to-LNG projects progressing towards final investment decisions, with two of them already having announced LNG sales agreements in place,” he said.
 
“From our industry’s calculations, that means more than 1900 kilometres of large bore high-pressure pipelines on the drawing boards.
 
“There’s also over 2000 kilometres of intermediate steel or GRE pressure pipelines being considered and more than 10,000 kilometres of polyethylene low pressure lines.
 
“That potential is just based on those four major projects which are in the final stages of environmental approval. There are also other LNG projects slated for Queensland, New South Wales, the Northern Territory and Western Australia.”
 
Mr Cox said the growing demand for energy provided a positive outlook for the gas industry.
 
“The likely outcome is more gas-fired power generation – both for peaking and base load electricity – and for us that means they are all going to need pipelines to supply them with gas,” he said.
 
“There is also potential for the Australian pipelines industry in the transmission of carbon dioxide as part of the flagship carbon geo-sequestration projects currently being considered in this country.”  
 
Mr Cox said a ‘crowning achievement” for APIA in the past year had been the Energy Pipelines Cooperative Research Centre established by the Federal Government, which provides research fundamental to ensuring the nation’s energy future.
 
“This government funding is going to be a step-change for research in Australia and it places our industry ahead of other industries in enabling us to move forward with research into the transmission of natural gas and other fluids,” he said. 
 
“It will enhance our reputation on the world stage where we already have excellent relationships with similar European and USA research centres involving several projects.
 
“Importantly, the funding also contributes to pipeline safety, technology, materials, training and education – all important foundations for the growth of Australia’s pipeline industry.”
 
Mr Cox also stressed the need for a Coal Seam Gas Gathering Pipelines Code of Practice in tandem with the rapid development of the nation’s CSG industry.
 
He welcomed APIA’s initiative of working with the upstream petroleum industry and the plastic pipes industry to participate in such a Code of Practice, which is currently in draft format and in the final stages of review.