Senator the Hon Mathias Cormann

The Turnbull Government is pleased to announce that ACIL Allen, in conjunction with GHD, is the successful tenderer to conduct a pre-feasibility study on the West-East Gas Pipeline.

Announced in this year’s Budget, the West-East Gas Pipeline pre-feasibility study is the first Commonwealth investigation of the potential for constructing a gas pipeline from Western Australia to link up to the east coast gas market.

The findings from the study may inform a full feasibility study to test the viability of constructing a natural gas pipeline to provide additional gas supplies and increase competition in the east coast gas market.

ACIL Allen will be involved in the market and analysis component of the study, while GHD will take on the pipeline engineering and pipeline route assessment component.

Together, the parties have deep and wide ranging experience in gas markets and infrastructure and demonstrated through their bid the ability to deliver excellent analysis to inform future infrastructure decisions.

ACIL Allen is a leader in energy policy, market trends and project economics in Australia. GHD provide detailed technical advice in the fields of engineering, architecture and environmental modelling.

The Government is powering forward with a plan that will deliver an affordable, reliable and responsible energy system which will also help meet our international obligations.

Improving the transparency, competitiveness and long term security of Australia's east coast gas market is a priority for the Government as gas is a crucial component of the current and future energy mix to ensure we keep the lights on.

ACIL Allen and GHD are due to provide the pre-feasibility report in March 2018.

For more information visit energy.gov.au/government-priorities/energy-markets/gas-markets.