QGC Starts Up Gas Processing Facilities

QGC Starts Up Gas Processing Facilities

QGC, developer of the Queensland Curtis LNG project, said it has begun operating a network of upstream natural gas processing facilities integral to meeting a target of producing first LNG from its Curtis Island plant in the fourth quarter of 2014.

The seven facilities west of Dalby comprise six field compression stations feeding gas drawn from hundreds of wells into the larger Ruby Jo Central Processing Plant. The central processing plant will send gas through a 540km underground pipeline network to the QCLNG export facility on Curtis Island off Gladstone, where it will be chilled to a liquid for delivery to markets around the world in specially designed ships.

QGC Managing Director Mitch Ingram said Ruby Jo Central Processing Plant, in conjunction with similar facilities near Chinchilla, would help fill the first of two QCLNG production facilities, known as “trains”, on Curtis Island.

“This milestone was achieved to schedule and keeps us firmly on track to be the world’s first bespoke project to produce LNG sourced from coal seams, with first LNG production due in the final quarter of this year,” Ingram said.

“The central processing plant and field compression stations represent a remarkable achievement over more than two-and-a-half years by 1,500 engineers, civil works contractors, mechanics, welders, electricians and other trades. Importantly, we delivered these seven upstream facilities safely while providing opportunities for local businesses and workers,” he concluded.

The facilities are the first to start operating under a contract QGC awarded to Thiess Pty Ltd last September for the construction of 17 field compression stations and four central processing plants at three hubs in the Surat Basin; near Dalby, Chinchilla and Wandoan.

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Press Release, June 24, 2014