- Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline
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Map of Western Australia showing the location of the Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline
The Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline (DBNGP) is the longest natural gas pipeline in Australia. It is 660mm in diameter, which also makes it one of Australia's largest in terms of transmission capacity. At the time of its commissioning in 1984[1], it was one of the longest gas pipelines in the world.[2]
The pipeline runs from a point near Withnell Bay, on the Burrup Peninsula near Dampier, to Bunbury in the south-west of the State. It carries natural gas, most of which enters the pipeline at the domestic gas plant associated with the North West Shelf Venture project. The other main inlet point is approximately 135 km south of Dampier, where one of the sales gas pipelines from Varanus Island connects with the DBNGP. In June 2008, following a pipeline rupture and explosion at the Varanus Island facility, the DBNGP carried additional volumes of gas from the North West Shelf plant to the south-west of the state, for a period of several months. See: 2008 Western Australian gas crisis
As a single trunkline it is 1530 km long,[3] extending from the Burrup Peninsula in the Pilbara region, to Bunbury in the south west of Western Australia. It supplies gas to industrial, commercial and residential customers in Perth and major regional centres along the pipeline route. It is covered by Western Australian pipeline license PL-40. A number of lateral pipelines are connected to this pipeline, most of which are covered by separate licenses, although PL-40 itself covers the main trunkline and some laterals totalling a length of 1789 km.[1]
View of the Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline at Main Line Valve #7 near Dampier.Contents
History
The idea of a pipeline to transport gas from the North West Shelf to the south-west of Western Australia had its origins in 1975, following the discovery of large offshore reserves by WAPET and woodside Petroleum. Around this time, the State Energy Commission of WA reviewed the state's future gas requirements in conjunction with the partners in the North West Shelf consortium. The developers of the North West Shelf were in the preliminary stages of planning a system of production facilities based on the Rankin and Goodwyn fields (located about 130 km off the coast of Dampier), linked to an LNG processing plant and a domestic gas plant situated at Withnell Bay. As the state government had access to more attractive interest rates than the commercial venturers, the state agreed to fund and build (through SECWA) a 1540 km gas pipeline to transport the output from the domestic gas plant. In addition, SECWA entered into long term (20 year) 'take-or-pay' contracts with the North West Shelf partners, in which SECWA agreed to pay for fixed volumes of gas which exceeded the market demand for gas in the south west.[4]
Engineering design commenced in 1979. and the pipeline was constructed between 1983 and 1984,[2], with the extension south to Bunbury commissioned in 1985 [5]. Construction involved the welding of 127,000 sections of 12 metre pipe[2]. Gas first flowed into the pipe on 16 August 1984. Following the disaggregation of SECWA in 1995, the pipeline came under the ownership and control of the government's gas utility, AlintaGas. As part of a government policy of privatisation, Alinta sold the pipeline in 1998 to Epic Energy, a consortium of two U.S. pipeline companies (along with three Australian institutional shareholders) at a price of A$2.407 billion.[4]
Epic Energy owned and operated the pipeline for six years, eventually selling the pipeline in October 2004 to Dampier Bunbury Pipeline (DBP) Ltd, which is the trading name of the DBNGP group of companies. DBP has three institutional shareholders: D.U.E.T. (Diversified Utilities and Energy Trusts)(60%), Alcoa (20%) and Alinta (20%). An executive team is responsible to the owners for the performance of the business, including corporate, regulatory, commercial and strategic functions.[6]
Throughput
An odourant injection station at MLV7 (main line valve) near Dampier, where Butanethiol is added to the natural gas inside the Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas PipelineWhen first constructed, the capacity of the system was 360 TJ/day. A $150m enhancement carried out in 1991 increased the capacity to 450 TJ/day.[2]. The current capacity of the pipeline is apprximamately 785 TJ/day.[7]. The pipeline is currently undergoing a series of significant expansions in its capacity which are intended to increase the maximum throughput of the pipeline to 895 TJ/day.[8] The expansion project consists of two types of upgrade. Several of the pipeline's compressor stations will be upgraded with higher capacity gas turbines, thus increasing the actual pressure of the gas inside the line. In addition, the expansion involves a process of 'looping' the pipeline. This is the installation of additional lengths of pipe alongside, and connected to, the existing pipeline. The effect of looping is to provide additional capacity at critical sections of the main trunkline, thus increasing the total possible throughput.[8]
Pipeline Corridor
The pipeline's corridor runs near and crosses the North West Coastal Highway to near the Yannrie river where it passes inland, east of the Kennedy Range National Park crossing the Murchison River near Mulla Mulla flat, moving south to cross the Midlands road east of Dongara.
References
- ^ a b "Australian Pipeline Licenses". Australian Pipeline Industry Association. http://www.apia.net.au/shadomx/apps/fms/fmsdownload.cfm?file_uuid=6FAA2543-1C23-CACD-229A-24B2BE557CE5&siteName=apia. Retrieved 2009-01-16.[dead link]
- ^ a b c d McIllwraith, John (1994). Power to the People - A History of Gas and Electricity in Western Australia. Perth: State Energy Corporation of WA. pp. 81–87. ISBN 0730964191.
- ^ http://www.dmp.wa.gov.au/documents/PExpGuide_2007.pdf
- ^ a b Clements, Ken (2002). The Great Energy Debate. Perth: University of WA Press. p. 157. ISBN 1876268743.
- ^ Fluor Australia Pty. Ltd.(1983) Dampier-Perth Natural Gas Pipeline : proposed Bunbury extension : environmental review and management programme prepared by Fluor-Maunsell, Perth [for the] State Energy Commission Western Australia. Perth, W.A. The Commission. 2 v. "September 1982" Appendices in 2nd volume.
- ^ "About the DBP Group". Dampier Bunbury Pipeline Group. 27 September 2008. http://dbp.net.au/about/. Retrieved 2009-01-16.
- ^ "DBNGP Fact Sheet". Dampier Bunbury Pipeline Group. 2 September 2008. http://dbp.net.au/TheStage5BExpansion/download/What-is-the-DBNGP.pdf. Retrieved 2009-01-16.[dead link]
- ^ a b "The Stage 5B Expansion Project". Dampier Bunbury Pipeline Group. 16 January 2008. http://dbp.net.au/TheStage5BExpansion/default.aspx. Retrieved 2009-01-16.
See also
Categories:- Energy in Western Australia
- Natural gas pipelines in Australia
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