Bechtel has recently completed the hydro-testing on the first of Santos GLNG’s two liquefied natural gas storage tanks at its Curtis Island site in Queensland.
Hydro-testing is a 24 hour-a-day operation that involves filling the giant structures with 100 million litres of water and conducting pressure testing to ensure their ability to safely store LNG.
The storage tanks are as tall as 16-storey buildings and can each hold the equivalent volume of 56 Olympic-size swimming pools.
The storage tanks have been built with two inner tanks composed of four layers of insulation and a layer of protective steel plates.
Once the plant is in operation, the tanks will each be capable of storing up to 140,000 cubic metres of LNG before it is loaded to ships for export to customers in Malaysia and Korea.