Australia Pacific LNG said it had commenced loading refrigerants to its Curtis Island LNG facility, marking an important step in the commissioning and start up phase of the project.
Propane and ethylene, two refrigerants used to cool the natural gas into a liquid, will continue to arrive on Curtis Island over coming weeks. They play a key role in the Optimized Cascade process, the liquefaction technology owned by Australia Pacific LNG shareholder ConocoPhillips.
“ The arrival of the refrigerants signifies a key step toward starting up the first LNG train. It enables us to meet the next milestones including test runs of the compressors, followed by final commissioning of remaining units of the first LNG train,” Australia Pacific LNG CEO, Page Maxson , said.
“ Today’s achievement keeps us firmly on track for first LNG export in the second half of this calendar year ,” Maxson said.
The APLNG project is a joint venture between ConocoPhillips (37.5%), Origin (37.5%), and Sinopec (25%).
The LNG facility on Curtis Island off the coast of Gladstone, will have two production trains with the ability of processing up to 9 million tonnes per annum.
LNG World News Staff; Image: Origin