"The quality of the submissions through the government's competitive process for the pipeline's construction has been so high that we now feel it is inevitable that this vital pipeline will be built," Giles said.
After spending a month assessing the proposals, a panel of experts has nominated APA Group, DG Operations, Merlin Energy Australia and SGSP (Australia) Assets to go through to the final stage of the process.
The proponents will be invited to progress to a final request for proposal stage which will close in September, with a successful proponent being announced shortly thereafter.
Giles said the submissions gave the government confidence that the private sector sees the project as being commercially viable and that the focus of government support would be around facilitating approval processes.
"Put plainly, the numbers seem to be stacking up," Giles said.
He said the first tranches of gas for the pipeline were expected to come from existing offshore and onshore fields, giving the NT government time to get the regulatory environment right for an expanded industry into the future.
"With this pipeline we can make it possible for industry to unlock the Territory's vast offshore and onshore gas reserves today, while supporting the jobs and development of tomorrow," Giles said.
"The current local industry can't support gas exploration and development on its own without the market confidence this pipeline provides.
"This pipeline will connect them with the volume of customers they need to fund the scale of exploration the Territory needs to fuel new industries into the future.
"Through this pipeline, the government is setting up a long term framework that grows gas supply, creates a more competitive energy market and provides access to plentiful, cheaper gas for use by local industry and domestic energy production."
The NT is estimated to have more than 200 trillion cubic feet of gas resources in six onshore basins - potentially enough gas to power Australia for more than 200 years and reserves almost 20 times the size of Inpex's Ichthys LNG project.
There is also believed to be more than 30Tcf of gas offshore.
