Australia: QGC Inaugurates Water Treatment Plant

QGC Inaugurates Water Treatment Plant

Queensland Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney inaugurated QGC’s Kenya Water Treatment Plant in gas fields west of Brisbane.

The plant, about 35km south-west of Chinchilla, purifies water that generally would otherwise not be available for crops or drinking because it is too salty.

QGC is providing the water to about 20 landholders and the town of Chinchilla in south-western Queensland.

The water, which is contained in coal seams, is produced with natural gas.

Gas companies that extract the water are obliged to treat it for use in agriculture, industry and town supply.

The plant, which involves an investment by QGC of more than A$1 billion in water infrastructure, can treat 92 megalitres a day, or the equivalent of that used by about 25 average-size irrigated vegetable farms*.

It is the first of two such plants that form part of QGC’s Queensland Curtis LNG Project, which is scheduled to begin exports in 2014.

BG Australia Chairman Catherine Tanna said the plant demonstrated QGC’s commitment to working with agriculture and local communities.

We are delighted to help shore up supplies for town consumption and to help landholders to grow crops that, in turn, support the Government’s aim to double food production by 2040,” Ms Tanna said.

This is a wonderful result for the gas industry, communities, agriculture and government – a demonstration of working together towards a common objective.

The plant was built by a consortium of GE Betz Pty Ltd and Laing O’Rourke Construction Pty Ltd, and involved about 250 people at peak construction.

Laing O’Rourke built the plant and GE provided technical expertise and process equipment, including advanced ultra-filtration, ion exchange, reverse osmosis and brine concentration technology.

About 25 people will operate the plant, one of two large QGC water treatment facilities in the Surat Basin that will be operated and maintained by Veolia Water Australia Pty Ltd as part of a 20-year, A$800 million contract.

Associated infrastructure includes a 33-megawatt gas-fired power plant to run the reverse osmosis process, and ponds and pipelines related to the water treatment facilities.

SunWater Limited built and operates a 20km pipeline that transports treated water from the plant to landholders and Chinchilla Weir.

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LNG World News Staff, October 23, 2013; Image: QGC