acquisition of oil & gas assets, page-85

additional info to PSI81 post.

The Australian this morning. Cooper gas connection to NT.

PIPELINE operator APA Group has started formal studies of a potential $1 billion-plus plan to link the Northern Territory and eastern Australian gas markets by pipeline.

The plan, which APA says has buyer, seller and government support, would mean Timor Sea and onshore Territory gas could be sent to eastern states facing shortages as $70bn of liquefied natural gas plants ramp up at Gladstone, Queensland.

Speaking after APA released strong first-half results yesterday, chief executive Mick McCormack said the pipeline plan -- first mooted last year -- had progressed to the stage where the APA was spending $2 million on a feasibility study after strong interest from gas buyers, sellers and governments.

"In NSW, the development of coal-seam gas is going nowhere as quickly as hoped, so there is a potential market, while up in Queensland the LNG projects will be sourcing a chunk of non-coal-seam gas," Mr McCormack said.

"Putting that together, we think the medium to longer-term solution for the southeast Australian market is Cooper Basin and heading in the Northern Territory. Customers would then have access to gas from anywhere between the Timor Sea and Bass Strait."

APA is studying two potential routes to link pipelines it operates in the Territory with those it has in the network that connects South Australia, Queensland, Victoria and NSW.

One option is an 800km pipeline from Tennant Creek to Mt Isa, which would cost about $900m. The other is from Alice Springs to the big Santos-operated Moomba gas plant in SA, which would be about 1000km long and cost about $1.3bn.