South Australia to benefit from Katnook plant

13th March 2020 By: Esmarie Iannucci - Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor: Australasia

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – South Australia is poised to benefit from the redevelopment of the Katnook natural gas processing facility, after the federal government provided a A$6-million grant as part of its Gas Acceleration Program.

The new gas plant, which is operated by ASX-listed Beach Energy, will process raw natural gas from the nearby Haselgrove-3 well and transport it via pipelines to customers like Kimberly-Clark in Millicent, and others in Mount Gambier and the surrounding region.

Federal Minister for Resources, Water and Northern Australia Keith Pitt said the redeveloped Katnook gas plant would help energy security in South Australia’s south-east.

“The redevelopment of the Katnook gas processing facility is a great regional example of the outcomes provided through the Commonwealth’s Gas Acceleration Program,” Pitt said.

“South-east South Australia is an important regional manufacturing area which needs reliable and affordable supplies of natural gas to maintain and grow its local industries.”

The redevelopment project was also supported by the South Australian government’s Plan for Accelerating Exploration gas scheme, which contributed A$6-million to support the original gas discovery in the Haselgrove-3 well.

“Having locally produced natural gas for South Australia’s south-east will become more important as the region grows and builds its manufacturing sector. It also means more local jobs,” Pitt said.

“The Hazelgrove 3 discovery and other work onshore in South-east South Australia is also demonstrating the expensive folly of unscientific bans and moratoria just across the border in Victoria. While Victoria is sitting on undeveloped gas, South Australia is moving ahead to protect its jobs and industries.”

The A$26-million federal government’s Gas Acceleration Program is speeding up the responsible development of natural gas by supporting five new projects to secure more than 20 PJ of new gas supplies for domestic customers.

The Gas Acceleration Program and other initiatives, including the Australian Domestic Gas Security Mechanism and the heads of agreement with liquefied natural gas exporters, have contributed to gas price falls of between 45% and 65% across the east coast gas spot markets since the highs of February 2017.