Jemena has secured approval from the Northern Territory (NT) government in Australia to begin the construction of the first 344km of the A$800m ($603m) Northern Gas Pipeline (NGP) project.
The 622km gas transmission pipeline developed by the Australian energy infrastructure company would run from Tennant Creek in NT to Mount Isa in Queensland. It will transport gas from the gas fields in NT to the east coast gas market.
In May, Jemena had got the consent from the NT government to go ahead with the Phillip Creek Compressor Station, one of the three NGP facilities which will come up at Tennant Creek pipeline end.
NT Resources Minister Ken Vowles called the NGP project to be one of the main platforms for the development of Tennant Creek as a mining services center.
Vowles said: “The construction of the Northern Gas Pipeline will underpin jobs, investment and development in the region for years to come, with approximately 900 jobs generated during construction alone.
“Jemena has indicated that it will start construction on this portion as soon as practicable to take advantage of the Dry Season.”
The laying out of 240km of the pipeline spanning from 45km northwest of Tennant Creek to 113km of the Queensland border in the west is planned to be done this year.
In late April, the NGP project was granted the pipeline license from the NT government.
Construction of the pipeline project is due to start this year with the first gas expected to flow in the pipeline in 2018.
Earlier in the month, Jemena had given a contract to construction company McConnell Dowell to build 481km of the pipeline that runs through NT.
The energy infrastructure company said that a construction partner to build the remaining 141km of the pipeline which runs through Queensland will be appointed soon.
In late 2015, the NT government had selected Jemena to build and operate the Northern Gas Pipeline project.
Image: Jemena gets NT government consent to build first 344km of NGP. Photo: courtesy of supakitmod/FreeDigitalPhotos.net.