Since the first convention in 1969, it was the sixth held in conjunction with the Melbourne Cup - and this year, with Makybe Diva’s tremendous feat, attendees shared a piece of history. Adelaide - the lovely “city of churches” - provided some typical sunny weather and an excellent venue for the Convention.

On the Sunday, the Exhibition was opened by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Federal Industry Minister, the Hon Warren Entsch MP, who had previously attended the Convention in 1998 and once again offered his support for the industry. Mr Entsch said the pipeline industry is a key player in providing the infrastructure required to meet the nation’s energy needs and he was keen to ensure the Government’s changes, being overseen by Minister Macfarlane, will help to reduce the regulatory burden on our businesses.

In his Opening and Keynote address, South Australian Energy Minister Patrick Conlon also outlined his enthusiasm for the industry, commenting on the large amount of capital “looking for a good investment home”. The Minister said it is important for Government to encourage investment in energy infrastructure.

“No one should make undue profits, but people won’t invest unless they have got the security of a reasonable return on investment.” Later in the week Minister Conlon demonstrated his support by joining with Ministerial colleagues at the Ministerial Council on Energy to vote down a proposal that would have imposed tougher economic regulation than is already being applied.

In his welcoming address, outgoing APIA President Mark Twycross highlighted the increasing interest in the PNG Gas development and the improved prospects for that major project. He also welcomed the work proceeding on the looping of the Dampier to Bunbury pipeline and also the Queensland coal seam methane developments. Mark congratulated the APIA committees on their work, including the Research and Standards Committee and its ME38 Standards Committee, as well as the Regulatory Affairs Committee for its work on economic regulation of the industry.

Mark took the opportunity during his tenure as President to raise the profile of safety issues and has seen the revision and finalisation of the APIA Construction Safety Guidelines and set in train the Safety Committee’s next project, Fatigue Management.

Projects

The business sessions contained some high-quality presentations, including an update of the PNG project by Gary Voss, the Onshore Project Director. Mr Voss said that the FEED program remained on track and firmly stated his belief in the project, saying “We believe this project is absolutely going to proceed.”

Securing licenses for the project has been a challenging task, as has been resolving native title concerns, but Mr Voss said the team at Australian Pipeline Consortium, which is overseeing the FEED program for the onshore section of the pipeline, was dedicated to resolving land access issues through negotiation with compulsory acquisitions an option only as a last resort.

It is expected that the pipeline will provide gas to Gove in the Northern Territory, through Weipa and across the Gulf, and to Townsville and Gladstone on its main line, with laterals to Mt Isa and Ballera, depending on markets. The total pipeline length will be greater than 3,800 km (including 650 km offshore); it will use around 20 compressor stations; have more than 450,000 tonnes of steel pipe; need more than 200,000 welded joints and provide more than 1,500 construction jobs over 30 months. Mr Voss said the pipe will carry rich gas, not wet gas, and although the route is still being determined, it is likely to closely follow the route previously established. Gary added that discussions are well underway for financing and commercial arrangements.

Mark Cooper, Commercial Manager for Dampier Bunbury Pipeline, discussed the first stage of expansion of the Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline (DBNGP). Mr Cooper said that this stage, which involves the addition of new compressor stations to the pipeline and approximately 217 km of looping is progressing well and expected to be completed during 2007.

The next stage of the expansion, which was formally announced shortly after the Convention, will involve the construction of approximately 400 km of 26 inch looping pipeline. This stage will cost in the order of $430 million and is expected to be operational by 2008. Mr Cooper advised that the pipeline approvals process for this stage of the expansion was expected to be slow and difficult.

Casino Project Manager David Emslie provided an update from the pipeline industry in Victoria. The Casino project is expected to commence operation during Q1 2006 and Mr Emslie said that existing pipeline infrastructure has allowed the project to progress quickly.

Regulation

The Chair of the Australian Energy Market Commission, Dr John Tamblyn, outlined his plans for the new regulatory regime for the gas transmission industry. The AEMC will play an important role in the new regime and Dr Tamblyn has promised to provide a consultative, transparent and accessible process. In response, Australian Pipeline Trust Chief Executive Officer Mick McCormack warned that an interventionist regulatory regime would discourage investment in this important infrastructure industry. He urged regulators to think strategically and long-term.

Presentations on risk management, the use of software, land values and an overview of the changes that have occurred over the past two decades – both positive and negative – were all well received.

Several papers looked to the future, including one by Susan Jaques from OSD, who provided an interesting insight into the development, training and industry challenges for professionals in the pipeline industry. Ms Jaques explored the changing values of the workforce commencing with the Baby Boomers, Generation X (31 to 41 year olds) and moving to Generation Y (21 to 30 year olds) and their varying expectations and work values.

On top of the workforce changes there has been structural change in the industry with the growth of outsourcing and unbundling of services. Ms Jaques believes that this has changed the nature of the workplace environment and made it difficult for pipeline professionals to develop a clear career path. Transition to management is seen as a path to greater earnings but the fragmentation of the industry means those aspiring to management are likely to have only a generalist background.

Training is the answer and Ms Jaques has proposed formal or structured training, workplace training and the formation of common interest groups. It is the responsibility of the industry, the individual and the employer to take a part in this process.

The pipeline operators again demonstrated their wealth of knowledge about the industry. The quality of the papers in the final session was demonstrated by the fact that, even though their session was interrupted by the Melbourne Cup broadcast, they had a full audience to the end, with delegates returning to hear about new technology for crack and metal loss detection, as well as Adrian Hudson’s presentation on building a 4,000 km pipeline in China over terrain that included everything from mountains to deserts to watery fields and snow. Richard Robinson and Ian Black from Oil Search completed the two successful business days with an inspirational presentation on the challenges of building a pipeline in Papua New Guinea.