Platts: Australia's Northern Territory backs gas pipe to south and east

Australia's Northern Territory backs the construction of a new pipeline to link the remote gas-rich region with gas-hungry southern and eastern Australia, the territory's chief minister said Wednesday.

"It is estimated that we have over 30 trillion cubic feet of gas offshore and up to 240 Tcf of conventional and unconventional gas reserves onshore," Adam Giles said.

"Currently, we have 13 operational pipelines across the Territory, including one running the length of the Territory from Darwin to Alice Springs in the Red Centre, and we are aiming to connect that to southern domestic markets and alleviate the looming New South Wales gas crisis."

NSW is expected to face a gas crunch after next year, when the first of three LNG export plants in neighboring Queensland start exporting LNG from new plants fed mainly by the state's coalseam gas reserves. MORE