>So in short, the infrastructure of the Beetaloo is somewhat less than desireable.

Sorry, I spoke too soon. The Amadeus-Darwin mainline might not be of much use today, since it's being used by Santos to supply all of the gas to run the generating station for Northern Terrritories Power and Water, as well as the mine in McArthur River. But......

(From NT Power and water)

"After supplying the fuel to generate electricity in the major power stations of Darwin, Katherine, Pine Creek, Tennant Creek and Alice Springs over the past 25 years, the Amadeus Basin gas fields of Palm Valley and, in particular, Mereenie, are now experiencing rapid production declines."

So this would mean that at some point in the near future, the pipeline running through the Beetaloo could be empty. So where is NT Power going to get their gas?

Gas supply from the Blacktip field will commence in 2009 and provide approximately 95 per cent of the fuel to generate electricity over the next
25 years. The 286km Bonaparte Gas Pipeline (BGP), which will haul Blacktip gas from the onshore gas plant near Wadeye to the Amadeus Basin to
Darwin pipeline at Ban Ban Springs is progressing on schedule.

So I guess NT Power won't need any Beetaloo gas, so where would it go?

"In case there is any disruption to Blacktip gas, agreement has been reached for the supply of emergency gas from the Darwin Liquefied Natural Gas (DLNG) plant. If this gas is required, it will be obtained via a pipeline that will link the
DLNG facilities at Wickham Point to the Amadeus Basin to Darwin pipeline."

So that's good, it appears there is another pipeline being built to connect the Amadeus to Darwin Pipeline to the LNG terminal at Darwin.

If you want to know where the gas goes from there, and have 16 minutes to spare:

http://media.conocophillips.com/2006...

So the prospect of a BCGA in the Northern Territories seems a little more promising to me now than it did this morning, although I don't think any of this can happen any time soon.