An Origin Energy spokesman said it hoped to get state government approval and start building the pipeline later this year, with construction continuing through summer.

The pipeline will take gas from the Halladale and Speculant wells that Origin has drilled onshore at Nirranda South to take gas from offshore reservoirs.

The Speculant exploration well last year discovered potentially commercial quantities of gas in a reservoir about 5km offshore.

In the coming months, another Speculant well will be drilled to “prove-up” the resource identified in the initial exploration well. 

The Halladale production well was recently drilled to a depth of about 1.2km, before deviating to a distance of about 5km from the well site to access the offshore reservoir.

The Origin spokesman said there were land easements in place for 95 per cent of the pipeline route and Origin was in the process of finalising access agreements with landowners.

If the pipeline licence is granted, further environmental and safety approvals will be required before construction starts.

An existing pipeline which was used to transport gas to the former Heytesbury gas plant runs along about 80 per cent of the proposed route.

No gas has run in that pipeline since 2007 and Origin is not using it for the gas from the Nirranda South wells because of the characteristics of the gas coming from those wells.

Origin’s Black Watch gas field is also located offshore near the company’s Nirranda South wells but no production wells have yet been drilled in that gas field.