Any News About this?Northern gas wealth may lure energy-shy...

Any News About this?
Northern gas wealth may lure energy-shy manufacturers from Victoria

An earlier push last decade for the NT to develop gas-based manufacturing foundered as prices rose, but Mr Lukey said he was confident of being able to secure competitive long-term prices for the Darwin project.

In contrast, the Laverton plant remains mothballed as Coogee has been unable to secure the 3 petajoules a year of gas it needs at affordable prices. The competition watchdog puts recent contract sales prices in the eastern states at about $9-$12 a gigajoule, well above the $6-$8/GJ that Chemistry Australia says chemical manufacturers need.

"That sort of pricing would get the methanol plant in Melbourne back in operation," Mr Luke said, adding the company had been "very disappointed" with the results of discussions on potential supplies.

Coogee is in negotiations for conventional gas from offshore fields but Qenos chief executive Stephen Bell said long-term competitive supplies from the large onshore unconventional resources would be needed to support a significant manufacturing base in Darwin.

He said that so far, while the Beetaloo Basin offered the hope of that in the long term, development work was at too early a stage to turn that into any confidence.

Coogee's methanol plant would be located at the Middle Arm industrial precinct, close to the Darwin and Ichthys LNG plants. A final investment decision is targeted for early 2021 and start-up in 2024.