Also at the dinner, APIA Chief Executive Cheryl Cartwright announced two companies that had recently upgraded to Lead Membership– Sargent and Energy Infrastructure Management. Ms Cartwright thanked both companies for their strong support.

Mr Roche delivered a wide ranging speech that touched on a number of issues pertinent to the Queensland resources sector and the pipeline industry specifically. He commenced by passing on the point that had been highlighted by Federal Resources and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson at the QRC-sponsored conference in Rockhampton the previous week; that the Gorgon project was bigger than the Federal Government’s recent stimulus package.

Mr Roche said projects such as Gorgon, Pluto and Ichthys were timely reminders that after every resources boom, there’s another one, and another one after that. He said that the medium and long-term prospects for Queensland are improving just as strongly as in the west.

He then went on to outline that Queensland has world-class coal seam gas reserves, which are larger than the gas reserves of the North West Shelf.

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“The coal seam gas industry now supplies about 85 per cent of Queensland’s natural gas market and will certainly extend that reach along the eastern seaboard,” Mr Roche said.

“Global gas companies are investing heavily in the future of a Queensland LNG industry, with eight proposals currently doing the rounds, pushing out investment and jobs numbers normally seen in telephone books.”

Mr Roche outlined that to produce the 5,300 PJ of gas required for Santos’ and Petronas’ Gladstone LNG (GLNG) Project’s first train, the proponents are looking to commission around 2,000 km of gas and water gathering pipelines, and 435 km of transmission pipeline. He stated that the forecasted boom in China’s LNG imports meant that Australia and Queensland are very well placed to capitalise on this opportunity, as was everyone with a stake in the pipeline business.

He concluded by discussing carbon dioxide pipelines, about which he said “According to one petroleum geologist, the uptake of carbon capture and storage technologies will demand the construction of more pipelines than the petroleum industry operates worldwide today.”