PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Reports emerged on Friday that Energy Projects and Infrastructure Korea (EPIK) had shelved plans for its $589-million Newcastle GasDock liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal in New South Wales.
In its gas inquiry report released late in January this year, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said that EPIK had declared the project as "economically unfeasible" and had ceased development activities in September last year.
EPIK told the ACCC that the “volatility in the international LNG market and high LNG benchmark pricing” had “placed downward pressure on the economics of the project”.
In its report, the ACCC stated that the risk posed by conditions in the international LNG market were not unique to EPIK, but that all proposed import terminals were exposed to the same risks, and that it was possible that other proposals for LNG import terminals could be abandoned or delayed until conditions improved.
EPIK’s proposed import terminal was in 2019 declared a Critical State Significant Infrastructure by the New South Wales government, with the project earmarked to potentially supply up to 80% of New South Wales’ gas needs.
Newcastle GasDock was expected to incorporate a 170 000 m3 class floating storage regasification unit (FSRU), a dockside jetty, and a pipeline lateral connecting the FSRU terminal to an interconnection point on Jemena’s Sydney to Newcastle pipeline, providing direct access into the Sydney Short Term Trading Market.
Operations were expected to start in 2023.
EPIK was unavailable for comment on Friday when approached by Mining Weekly Online.