The owners of the Dampier to Bunbury natural gas pipeline have taken direct control of asset management activities that previously were run by Babcock & Brown Infrastructure subsidiary Westnet Energy.
The owners of the Dampier to Bunbury natural gas pipeline have taken direct control of asset management activities that previously were run by Babcock & Brown Infrastructure subsidiary Westnet Energy.
The owners of the Dampier to Bunbury natural gas pipeline have taken direct control of asset management activities that previously were run by Babcock & Brown Infrastructure subsidiary Westnet Energy.
New owner Dampier Bunbury Pipeline now has direct responsibility for pipeline operations, engineering, maintenance and the majority of corporate support functions, which were previously carried out by WestNet Energy and WestNet Infrastructure Group under an Operating Services Agreement (OSA).
WestNet Energy and WestNet Infrastructure Group will continue to provide ongoing IT support services and major project management services under a modified OSA.
DBP executive chairman Stuart Hohnen said the pipeline's owners believe that efficiencies can be achieved by bringing the operating team directly under the control of DBP's management.
Mr Hohnen said the new arrangement would also help to allay concerns by some of DBP's stakeholders about conflicts of interest between ownership, asset management and customer roles.
"We believe this is a positive outcome in the best interests of the asset, customers, the owners and those people dedicated to working on this critical asset," Mr Hohnen said.
"This initiative will also ensure transparency of operations and help to allay concerns by some of DBP's stakeholders about conflicts of interest between ownership, asset management and customer roles which existed under the previous structure, devised when the consortium purchasd the pipeline in 2004."
Babcock and Brown Infrastructure is one of three owners of DBP, with a 20 per cent stake. The other owners are the DUET investment trust (60 per cent) and major gas user and pipeline customer Alcoa (20 per cent).