Duke said it has the permits and approvals to begin construction on the Sea Spray to Bell Bay portion of the Tasmanian Gas Pipeline and would begin in Bass Strait and onshore Tasmania this month.

However, a Duke official admitted the company had not received approvals for the 24km Longford to Sea Spray section. "We believe it is only a matter of days before approvals for this sector come through," she said.

The 714km pipeline, which is due for completion by the middle of next year, will bring natural gas to Tasmania for the first time.

In other pipeline news, Papua New Guinea has cleared the way for final approvals on the $3.5 billion PNG-to-Queensland gas pipeline project by making crucial changes to its national Oil and Gas Act.

The proposed pipeline's operator, ExxonMobil, said the amendments to the Act "were positive steps toward the finalisation of the Gas Agreement" and the ultimate development of the pipeline.

ExxonMobil said three crucial conditions need to be fulfilled before the project could proceed: completion of the Gas Agreement, the finalisation of PNG Government equity in the project and the signing of firm gas customers in Australia.