The plan could speed up the delivery of gas to the eastern states and create as many as 4000 jobs, according to Jemena.

Part of the plan will mean the company’s northern gas pipeline will be connected to its proposed Galilee Gas Pipeline, which will span around 585km and will transport gas from Galilee Energy’s Glenaras Gas Project near Longreach in the Galilee Basin to the Wallumbilla Gas Hub.

Galilee today announced a $15 million placement to new and existing shareholders. The funds will be used for exploration and appraisal at Glenaras where it has already finished a five-well program.

Jemena also signed a memorandum of understanding with Tamboran Resources Limited, the holder of premium acreage in the highly prospective Beetaloo / McArthur basin.

Tamboran, which holds 25 per cent of Santos’ exploration venture for the Beetaloo, would be responsible for upstream activities across the basin.

Jemena’s managing director Frank Tudor, said the deal with Tamboran demonstrated that industry was working collaboratively to bring new gas to the east-coast to underpin long-term security of supply.

“This is an important step towards delivering on the Commonwealth Government’s plans for the Beetaloo as part of a gas-led recovery from the COVID-19 Pandemic,” Tudor said.

“Through this partnership we hope to expedite the pace at which we can bring much needed additional gas to market, while creating around 4000 jobs – many in regional Australia.

“We hope that our partnership with Tamboran is the catalyst the market is seeking to spark the development of the Beetaloo Basin and drive Australia towards energy security, while also spurring economic development across the NT for generations.

“While our MOU with Tamboran gives us exclusivity, it also highlights the importance of collaboration and we plan to make our infrastructure available to all industry participants.”

As a result of the partnership Jemena plans to progressively increase the northern gas pipeline’s capacity from around 90 terajoules of gas per day to 1000TJs through a combination of compression and looping.

Jemena anticipates transporting up to 200TJs of gas per day through the northern gas pipeline from 2025, with transport quantities increasing as the extended and expanded pipelines are commissioned from the second half of the 2020s.

Jemena is also considering construction of a pipeline north from the Beetaloo into Darwin once new LNG trains or local demand centres have been sanctioned, which Jemena believes could occur in the late 2020s.