Pipeline Facts and Figures - Australian Pipelines and Gas Association

Australia has around 42,000km of natural gas transmission pipelines that efficiently transport gas under high pressure from where it is produced to the outskirts of cities both large and small. Every molecule of gas used in Australia travels at least part of the way to its destination in a transmission pipeline.

Safety first

Natural gas transmission pipelines in Australia have a good safety record that is longstanding. In addition, there has never been a major gas outage caused by a pipeline incident.

The design, construction, testing, operations and maintenance of high-pressure gas transmission pipelines made of steel are underpinned by Australian Standard 2885. The Standard was developed by a working group of industry and government members, and APGA members continue to actively participate in its design, review and development. AS 2885 is written from a safety perspective and requires extensive investigation to identify, document and control any threats to the pipeline along its entire length. It also requires regular review to ensure that any threats identified continue to require consideration and that the controls applied are effective.

The national adoption of AS 2885 by all State and Territory technical regulators and their involvement in its continued development and maintenance has enabled the pipeline industry to achieve a level of regulatory consistency not typical to every industry with state-based regulation. A key safety principle of risk assessment when designing pipelines for all environments is the ‘ALARP’ approach that all risks to the pipeline are to be kept as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP).

Each pipeline is designed to take account of the known and proposed land use and the likely risks in the range of environments through which it passes. The issues that a rural environment poses to a pipeline are very different from those encountered in urban environments.

History of pipelines

Australia’s first pipeline was commissioned in the late 1800s to transport water to the Coolgardie gold fields. This set a worldwide precedent by being more than 10 times longer than any other existing pipeline.

The Moonie to Brisbane pipeline was the first Australian pipeline built for oil transportation. It was completed in 1964 and was 306 kilometres long. At that time, it was the longest high-pressure pipeline in Australia. The 440km Roma to Brisbane pipeline came into operation in March 1969 and is Australia’s oldest natural gas pipeline.

Today, pipelines are also used to transport different forms of gas and other liquids such as oil, slurry and water.