Oberon facing two more weeks without gas

In a statement released on Monday morning APA now anticipates the first temporary solution of trucking LNG to the site to supply Oberon, Lithgow and Wallerawang could be in place this Friday.

APA said civil site works to enable access to the transmission line will commence on Monday in advance of the expected arrival of a 42-tonne LNG storage vessel on Tuesday.

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Following this, the first LNG tanker is expected to arrive on Friday to begin injecting gas into the line. Jemena will then be able to start connecting consumers in Oberon, Lithgow and Wallerawang to the network which will take up to an additional week.

"These connections will be managed by Jemena on a priority basis noting the temporary option only enables some gas supply to be restored. APA will provide additional resources to Jemena to help accelerate this process, the company said.

At the same time as the LNG solution is being progressed, APA crews are progressing a temporary pipeline solution at the site of the damaged pipeline at the Macquarie River, which would enable full gas supply for all customers to be reinstated into the Wallerawang, Lithgow and Oberon areas.

APA said it has made strong progress on this option over the weekend with civil and site materials starting to arrive on Sunday.

"With the temporary pipe expected to arrive from Brisbane today, this temporary solution is expected to be in place early next week. After the temporary solution has been established, Jemena will commence the process of reconnecting customers which is expected to take another week for all customers to be reconnected, the statment said.

APA anticipates a permanent solution with full gas supply could be in place in approximately four weeks from Friday 4 November, subject to weather conditions not deteriorating and suitable construction conditions prevailing.

APA said it understands the urgency for gas to be restored and is working hard to achieve this, bringing in crews from across Australia to assist.

"As previously stated, gas supply has been restored to Bathurst, and APA is working alongside Jemena across Bathurst to reconnect customers there.

"While access to the pipeline is still restricted due to flooding, our preliminary assessment suggests that the damage was caused by flooding."

APA most recently inspected the pipeline between April and May this year and were satisfied with the risk assessment conducted and the integrity of the pipeline.

"Since then, we believe flooding has caused major erosion of the riverbank, resulting in damage to the pipeline.

"We remain focused on restoring gas to Wallerawang, Lithgow and Oberon as quickly and as safely as possible, and we continue to work with community groups and emergency services agencies to better understand how we can assist and support those in the community who have been impacted."

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