By: Alex Nelson

Alex Nelson — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 06:56:55 +0000

Picture this scenario – it’s sometime in late January or February, and the weather is typically scorching hot with a run of daytime temperatures reaching the low 40s. Power consumption is at peak levels due to the air-conditioners in use all over town.
Suddenly, without warning, an earthquake somewhere between Alice Springs and Tennant Creek ruptures the ground generating a fault line straight across the gas pipeline. The tremor is sufficient to puncture a hole in the pipe, causing it to explode. The supply of gas from the Top End is immediately disrupted.
The question now is whether there is sufficient supply from the gas fields to the west of Alice Springs to meet the demand at this peak period of consumption while emergency repairs are made on the pipeline to the north.
On January 22, 1988, there was a large quake that registered 7.2 on the Richter Scale, followed by a series of tremors of decreasing intensity over the following few days. The epicentre was about 40 km west of Tennant Creek, which generated a fault line rupturing the ground 25 km long, 35 km southwest of the town. It was a team of employees working for NT Gas, responsible for managing the Palm Valley to Darwin gas pipeline, that discovered the fault line.
Initially there was no damage found but further inspection revealed the pipeline was kinked 60 km southwest of Tennant Creek, necessitating the replacement of that segment of line.
This incident posed no problem for Alice Springs at the time as the main gas supply came from the Palm Valley fields west of town. But now that most of our gas is supplied from the Bonaparte Gulf in the Top End, should a similar or worse event occur any time in future, do we have sufficient reserves left to cater for this emergency?

Comments on: Palm Valley gas royalties will resume

By: Alex Nelson