QCLNG Project 65 Pct Complete (Australia)

Queensland Curtis LNG (QCLNG) will be the world’s first project to turn natural gas from coal seams into liquefied natural gas, or LNG. The project, which has been under construction since 2010, will provide cleaner hydrocarbon energy for export markets from 2014.

This major, integrated project involves:

• Expanding QGC’s natural gas production in the Surat Basin of southern Queensland.
• Construction of a 200 kilometre, 42-inch gas collection header pipeline and a 340 kilometre, 42-inch export pipeline to Gladstone.
• Constructing a natural gas liquefaction plant on Curtis Island, near Gladstone, where the gas will be converted to LNG for export.

Good progress continues to be made, with the project about 65% complete and on track for both first LNG in 2014 and the US$20.4 billion budget.

The entire gas collection header is now buried, with testing for leaks almost complete, and about 75% of the export pipeline is in the ground. The full pipeline is expected to be completed by the end of 2013.

On Curtis Island, construction of the liquefaction plant – comprising two production units, known as trains – and other key facilities are well on track. The construction of modular components for the plant has been completed. Both LNG storage tank roofs were raised in the first half of 2013.

All 62 modules required for Train 1 and five of the 18 modules that support Train 2 have been delivered. The remaining modules for Train 2 are scheduled to be delivered by the end of the year.

In the gas production areas of southern Queensland, the pace of drilling is ahead of expectations with 213 wells drilled from April to June, including a record 77 in June. Three quarters of the 2,000 wells required for the first two trains to run at capacity have now been drilled. In addition, the first major water treatment facility at the Kenya facility near Chinchilla, about 300 kilometres north-west of Brisbane, has been commissioned and first water was exported in July.

Activity is also well advanced at gas processing facilities, comprising a central processing plant and six associated field compression stations, near Dalby. These are critical for delivering first LNG in 2014.

It is expected that the LNG plant will be ready to start commissioning with gas around the end of 2013. First LNG sales are expected to begin in the second half of 2014.

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LNG World News Staff, August 22, 2013; Image: QGC