West-to-east gas pipeline being considered by Federal Government, Mathias Cormann confirms

The Federal Government is examining how to send gas from Western Australia to the eastern seaboard, Senator Mathias Cormann confirms.

“There are also potentially other options available to supply Western Australian gas to the eastern states market, which need to be considered at the same time.

“This could be a great opportunity for WA, but there is a lot of homework that needs to be done, to ensure we come up with the best, most appropriate way forward.”

Another possibility would be shipping liquefied natural gas from WA to the east coast and regassing it there.

That option would require a regasification plant being built on the eastern seaboard.

Pipeline could build on current projects

Federal Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg said an east-west pipeline would be “nation building” and as such very appealing.

“Clearly the economics do need to stack up, but we’re very serious about investigating the potential for such infrastructure,” he said.

“Given there’s an abundance of gas on the west coast, and a tightness in the east coast gas market, it would build on other projects the Government is looking at.”

Source: West-to-east gas pipeline being considered by Federal Government, Mathias Cormann confirms – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)