Australia: QGC Provides QCLNG Project Update

QGC, a BG Unit and operator of the QCLNG project, said in a project update that at Curtis Island, where the LNG project is located, both Train 1 methane compressor strings (refrigerators which cool the gas into liquid form) have been placed on their foundations, along with the Train 1 cold boxes, first propane condenser module and first gas turbine generator string.

Thai Government dignitaries toured the QCLNG plant module fabrication yard in Thailand in October. The group included Department of Mineral Fuels Director-General Dr Songpope Polachan and Laem Chabang Port Deputy Managing Director Montree Lergchumniet. Bechtel, BG Thailand and QGC representatives led the tour.

On 18 October, the Thai module yard achieved 3 million work hours without a lost time injury. Module and equipment shipments are now arriving regularly at the Curtis Island site from the Thai module fabrication yard, GE in Italy and other suppliers worldwide. More than 116,000 tonnes of equipment and bulk supplies have now arrived.

The Thai yard is fabricating 80 modules for the QCLNG plant, which will arrive at Curtis Island in 26 shipments. The first three shipments (containing 8 modules) have arrived and the fourth is on its way.

Meanwhile, Operations Director Walter Simpson led a delegation of Latin American ambassadors on successful tour of the QCLNG Curtis Island site in October. The trip was part of a Trade and Investment Queensland initiative to promote the state.

QCLNG and Bechtel are now conducting joint HSSE audits at Curtis Island. Their initial focus is on subcontractors and high risk activities.

The number of medium and large vessels (over 10 metres) using Gladstone Harbour hit a record of 24,395 in August. Joining the flotilla is the new passenger ferry, the Riverside Catalina, which will carry up to 400 QCLNG construction personnel per trip between the mainland and Curtis Island.

Gas Fields Update

The second of QGC’s 20 new field compression stations, Bellevue, has completed its final readiness review before being commissioned later this month. Bellevue is in the central region, near Miles. All compressors and coolers for the David field compression station, in the southern region between Chinchilla and Dalby, have now been delivered.

In a significant milestone for the nearby Ruby Jo field, the Train 1 compressor has been delivered to Ruby Jo’s central processing plant. Commissioning of the plant is expected to start in about a year. It is the most advanced of the four central processing plants for QCLNG, also at Woleebee Creek, Bellevue and Jordan.

QGC has awarded an $80 million contract to a joint venture of Transfield Services and Clough Projects (TSCJV) for front-end engineering and planning for gas compression facilities, bulk earth works, piling and concrete foundations at Woleebee Creek, in the north near Wandoan, and Bellevue. The work is expected to be complete early next year. QGC will then award a contract to build five field compression stations and a central processing plant at Woleebee Creek as well as three field compression stations and a central processing plant at Bellevue.

There has been good progress in achieving access to sites for drilling and gathering of wells.  Twelve drilling rigs are expected to be operating heading into 2013, with a corresponding ramp-up of wells drilled across the south, central and north regions.

Tyco Water has supplied and delivered more than 10,800 water trunkline pipes – on schedule and without injury. The pipes, in six sizes from about 40cm to a metre in diameter, were made at Tyco’s factories in Queensland and Victoria. It took about six months to deliver the pipes to four purpose-built lay-down yards.

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LNG World News Staff, November 6, 2012; Image: QGC