The Wickham Point Pipeline (WPP), Weddell Lateral and WPP Inpex Lateral are transmission pipelines in the north-west region of the Northern Territory near Darwin. The WPP services the Darwin City Gate, Wickham and Weddell. The WPP and Weddell Lateral is owned and operated by Energy Infrastructure Investments (EII) Pipelines Pty Limited. The APA Group has a 19.9 per cent interest in EII. The other companies involved in EII are Marubini (49.9 per cent interest) and Osaka Gas (30.2 per cent interest). The WPP Inpex Lateral is owned by Power and Water Corporation NT.
The WPP is 12 km in length and has a nominal diameter of 300mm. The Southern-haul has a capacity of 100TJ/day and the Northern-haul has a capacity of 70TJ/day. It was built to deliver gas on an emergency supply basis from the LNG Plant at Wickham Point to the Amadeus Gas Pipeline and Power and Water Corporation’s Weddell Power Station near Darwin. The section of the WPP from Darwin City Gate WPP to Weddell Power Station has been in operation since early 2008, while the remainder of the pipeline between the Weddell Power Station and the Wickham Regulating Station was commissioned in May 2009.
The Weddell lateral is 2 km in length and connects the Wickham Point Pipeline to Darwin via the Darwin City Gate. The Weddell Lateral also acts as an emergency supply point for the Amadeus Gas Pipeline (AGP), with gas coming from the Bayu Undan gas fields.
The WPP Inpex Lateral runs between the exiting Wickham Point Pipeline and the new Inpex Gas Plant in Darwin.
The Wickham Point Pipeline (WPP), Weddell Lateral and WPP Inpex Lateral are currently non-scheme pipelines, and is subject to the access regime for non-scheme pipelines under Part 10 of the National Gas Rules (NGR). It was previously subject to the access regime for non-scheme pipelines under the former Part 23 of the NGR, which was replaced by Part 10.
The AER has granted the following exemptions:
- On 3 January 2018, a five year Category 2 exemption under part 23 of the NGR for the WPP and Weddell Lateral.
- On 30 November 2022, a five year Category 2 exemption under Part 23 of the NGR for the WPP and Weddell Lateral. The exemptions transitioned to Category 2 exemptions under Part 10 of the NGR.
- On 9 April 2024, a five year Category 1 exemption under Part 10 of the NGR for the WPP Inpex Lateral.
