The Eastern Gas Pipeline (EGP) is a

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

pipeline. It is a key supply artery between the Gippsland Basin in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

and

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia. The EGP is currently operated by

Jemena SGSP (Australia) Assets Pty Ltd (SGSPAA), trading as Jemena, is an Australian company that owns, manages or operates energy infrastructure assets in the eastern states of Australia including Queensland and New South Wales, and gas pipelines and ...

. The EGP supplies more than half the gas consumed in New South Wales and supports consumers in Sydney and regional centres, including

Bairnsdale Bairnsdale () ( Ganai: ''Wy-yung'') is a city in East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia in a region traditionally owned by the Tatungalung clan of the Gunaikurnai people. The estimated population of Bairnsdale urban area was 15,411 at Ju ...

Cooma Cooma is a town in the south of New South Wales, Australia. It is located south of the national capital, Canberra, via the Monaro Highway. It is also on the Snowy Mountains Highway, connecting Bega with the Riverina. At the , Cooma had a po ...

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

Nowra Nowra is a city in the South Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. It is located south-southwest of the state capital of Sydney (about as the crow flies). As of the 2021 census, Nowra has an estimated population of 22,584. Situated in th ...

Bomaderry Bomaderry (locally known as "Bommo") is a town in the Shoalhaven council district area of New South Wales, Australia. At the , it had a population of 8,718 people. It is on the north shore of the Shoalhaven River, across the river from Nowra, the ...

and

Wollongong Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wate ...

. Gas is fed to the EGP at

Longford Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It has a population of 10,008 according to the 2016 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meet ...

and

Orbost Orbost is a historic early settlers town in the Shire of East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia, Victoria, east of Melbourne and south of Canberra where the Princes Highway crosses the Snowy River. It is about from the surf and fishing seaside t ...

, and by the VicHub interconnect facility. Capacity up to 2016 was 106 PJ per annum, and during 2016 was increased by 22 PJ per annum. Current capacity in 2018 was 350+ TJ per day.

Pipeline users

A major user of the pipeline is AGL, who have contracted capacity from the pipeline for AGL's customers in the Australian Capital Territory and New south Wales. Industrial EGP customers include

BlueScope BlueScope Steel Limited is an Australian flat product steel producer that was spun-off from BHP Billiton in 2002. History BlueScope was formed when BHP Billiton spun-off its steel assets on 15 July 2002 as BHP Steel. It was renamed BlueScope ...

Port Kembla A port is a maritime law, maritime facility comprising one or more Wharf, wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge Affreightment, cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can a ...

. Power generation EGP customers include

Marubeni (, OSE: 8002, NSE: 8002) is a ''sōgō shōsha'' (general trading company) headquartered in Nihonbashi, Chuo, Tokyo, Japan. It is one of the largest ''sogo shosha'' and has leading market shares in cereal and paper pulp trading as well as a st ...

’s power station at Smithfield,

EnergyAustralia EnergyAustralia (formerly TRUenergy) is an electricity generation, electricity and gas retailing private company in Australia, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Hong Kong-based and listed China Light and Power (CLP Group). EnergyAustralia also ...

’s power station at Tallawarra, and

Alinta Energy Alinta Energy is an Australian electricity generating and gas retailing private company owned by Hong Kong-based Chow Tai Fook Enterprises (CTFE). It was sold for $4 billion and was approved Treasurer Scott Morrison in 2017. Alinta Energy has an ...

’s Bairnsdale power station.

Route and branches

The main pipeline is from Longford to

Horsley Park Horsley Park is a suburb of Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and e ...

History and construction

Survey work and land access negotiations were undertaken by LandPartners. The EGP project was initiated by BHP Petroleum and West Coast Energy. Design and construction were undertaken by Duke Energy. The initial design capacity was 65 PJ per annum, with an operating pressure of 14.9 MPa. The pipeline was commissioned in 2000 and owned and operated by

Duke Energy Duke Energy Corporation is an American electric power and natural gas holding company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. Overview Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Duke Energy owns 58,200 megawatts of base-load and peak generation in ...

. Estimated cost was AUD450M. API 5L X70 and X65 grade steel pipe with a fusion-bonded epoxy (FBE) coating was used. 90 kT of pipe was used for the pipeline. 27.7 kT of this was processed by

OneSteel Arrium was an Australian mining and materials company, employing nearly 10,000 workers, that went into voluntary administration in 2016 with debts of more than $2 billion. In 2017 it was acquired by British-owned Liberty House Group. Hist ...

Oil and Gas from

PS5200 pipesteel. Ownership passed to

Alinta Alinta was an Australian energy infrastructure company. It has grown from a small, Western Australia-based gas distributor and retailer to the largest energy infrastructure company in Australia. It was bought in 2007 by a consortium including ...

in April 2004 when Alinta purchased Duke Energy's assets in Australia and New Zealand.

took ownership and control in 2007. In 2008 a midline compressor was commissioned at Mila, near

Bombala Bombala is a town in the Monaro region of south-eastern New South Wales, Australia, in Snowy Monaro Regional Council. It is approximately south of the state capital, Sydney, and south of the town of Cooma. The name derives from an Aboriginal ...

, New South Wales, increasing capacity by 15%. Engineering constraints included snow zone operating conditions. Capacity was then 98 PJ per annum. Local Rural Fire Service personnel are given response training by Jemena. The Wilton lateral was commissioned in 2016. Planning for a compressor upgrade commenced in 2013. In 2016 capacity was increased by 20%, 22 PJ per year, by the addition of two new midline compressor stations, at Michelago, and at

Pipeline users

Route and branches

History and construction

References

External links

Further reading