Lucas is currently constructing the Bonaparte Pipeline for Australian Pipeline Trust. It will carry natural gas 280km from Eni Australia’s Blacktip gas plant near Wadeye to join the existing Amadeus Basin to Darwin gas pipeline at Ban Ban Springs station.
The gas is contracted for 25 years to Power and Water Corporation for power generation in the Northern Territory.
Construction of the 300mm (12”) steel pipeline began in March 2008 and will be ready to delivery gas by 1 January 2009.
To avoid the near-impossible access during the wet season, construction has been scheduled during the dry season.
The Northern Territory’s chief minister Paul Henderson
described the pipeline as “an investment in the Territory’s future that will secure the Northern Territory’s energy supply needs for 25 years”.