Shell to shut Curtis Island LNG export plant for maintenance in October

Shell’s Curtis Island liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant in Australia will shut down for planned maintenance in October.

The exact timing of the shutdown has not been revealed by QGC, Shell’s unit operating the two-train LNG export facility on Curtis Island near Gladstone.

The maintenance shutdown is carried out every few years and is “essential to the safe operation of LNG facilities”, as QGC said in its brief social media statement.

This is the first major maintenance shutdown since the project started exporting LNG in December 2014.

QGC is also working with the Queensland Government’s Department of Environment and Heritage seeking an amendment to regulatory conditions which recognise a 30-minute timeframe is not adequate to remove all traces of gases during the shutdown.

QGC, Australian coal seam gas (CSG) producer became part of Shell when the Anglo-Dutch giant acquired BG Group in a $54 billion deal in February last year.

The QCLNG plant located on Curtis Island off Gladstone produces about 8 million tons per year of LNG, enough to load around ten vessels per month.

China’s CNOOC holds 50 percent equity in Train 1 while Japan’s Tokyo Gas owns a 2.5 percent stake in Train 2.

LNG World News Staff