Gas pipeline giant APA Group has intensified the competition to build the multibillion-dollar infrastructure to unlock the huge Beetaloo gas resource in the Northern Territory, signing a deal with explorer Empire Energy that rivals plans by Jemena and Cheung Kong Group.

News of the memorandum of understanding between APA and Empire, which envisages a new common-user pipeline to bring Beetaloo shale gas to the eastern states, came as major gas producers including Santos, Woodside and Inpex agreed to co-operate to examine the viability of large-scale carbon capture in Darwin.