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Access arrangement 2026 to 2030

The ERA is reviewing the access arrangement for the Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline - one of the largest capacity natural gas transmission pipelines in Australia.

The Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline (DBNGP) spanning 1,600 kilometres starting near the township of Dampier, running parallel to the coast of Western Australia, and finishing near Bunbury, south of Perth. It connects the gas fields located in the state’s northwest directly to mining, industrial and commercial customers. The pipeline is owned and operated by Dampier Bunbury Pipeline (DBP) and is part of the Australian Gas Infrastructure Group (AGIG).

The process for gas access arrangement reviews has changed since the ERA’s last review of DBP’s access arrangement for the DBNGP in 2021. There are now two key stages involved in the ERA’s decision making process for an access arrangement: (a) Reference Service Proposal and (b) Access Arrangement Proposal. Under the National Gas Rules, DBP must submit a reference service proposal to the ERA 12 months before submitting an access arrangement proposal.

On 8 December 2023, DBP submitted its reference service proposal. The ERA published DBP’s proposal for consultation on 9 February 2024 and on 1 July 2024 made the decision to not approve it. The ERA subsequently published its own reference service proposal, which retains the current three reference services (Full Haul, Part Haul and Back Haul) and specification of data and storage services as pipeline services that can reasonably be provided.

On 2 January 2025, DBP submitted its access arrangement proposal for the sixth access arrangement period (AA6): 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2030. The ERA published an issues paper on 4 March 2025, along with an additional DBP document, to assist interested parties in making submissions. A simplified future of gas model was subsequently published on 14 March 2025 to further assist stakeholders in understanding DBP’s future of gas modelling.

The ERA received five submissions in response to DBP’s proposal and the ERA’s issues paper.

The ERA's draft decision was published on 7 July 2025. DBP submitted its response to the draft decision on 19 August 2025.

Interested parties were invited to make public submissions on the ERA's draft decision and DBP's revised proposal. The ERA received three submissions, two submissions by the deadline of 17 September 2025 and accepted a further late submission received on 18 September 2025.

The ERA expects to make its final decision in December 2025.

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Mark Chatfield (individual)

0.60 MB

23 Sep 2025

NewGen Power

2.65 MB

23 Sep 2025

Wesfarmers Chemicals, Energy and Fertilisers

0.70 MB

23 Sep 2025

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Alinta Energy

0.15 MB

03 Apr 2025

gasTrading Australia

0.16 MB

03 Apr 2025

Horizon Power

0.43 MB

03 Apr 2025

NewGen Power

0.49 MB

03 Apr 2025

Wesfarmers Chemicals, Energy and Fertilisers

7.25 MB

03 Apr 2025

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Decision on Reference Service Proposal

0.40 MB

01 Jul 2024

ERA's revised Reference Service Proposal

0.23 MB

01 Jul 2024

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DBP's reference service proposal

0.89 MB

09 Feb 2024

Links

Australian Gas Infrastructure Group