Australia Pacific LNG Raises the Roof on CSG/CBM Project

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Perth, Australia)--Another Queensland coal seam gas/coal bed methane (CSG/CBM) project has hit a major milestone this month, as the Australia Pacific Liquefied Natural Gas (APLNG) Project raises the roof on the first of its two LNG storage tanks.

Upon completion, APLNG, led by Origin Energy Limited (ASX:ORG) (Sydney, New South Wales) and ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) (Houston, Texas), will source CSG/CBM from the Surat and Bowen Basins in southwest and central Queensland, then transport it via a 323-mile (520-kilometre), high-pressure transmission pipeline to an LNG facility on Curtis Island off the coast of Gladstone, where it will be converted to LNG for export to South Korea and Japan.

Origin Energy, which owns 37.5% of the project, is Australia's largest integrated energy company and has been operating in central Queensland for about 30 years. It has been in the CSG field for about 15 years.

ConocoPhillips, which also owns 37.5% of the project, is one of the world's largest CSG operators and has more than 25 years' experience.

The remaining 25% share is owned by one of China's largest petroleum product suppliers and natural gas producers, Sinopec Limited (NYSE:SNP) (Shanghai, China).

The LNG Facility on Curtis Island will initially operate two gas production trains and produce up to 9 million tonnes per annum of liquefied natural gas (LNG). In order to store the product prior to export onboard LNG tankers, two 5,650,000-cubic-foot (160,000-cubic-metre) LNG storage tanks, approximately 260 feet (80 meters) in diameter and 114 feet (35 meters) high, are required. Construction started on the tanks in early 2012. Raising the roof on the first tank marks the halfway point toward the first export of LNG in mid-2015.

Kent Anderson, ConocoPhillips Downstream Project Manager, said that the raising of the roof on the LNG tank took less than eight hours. The process involved lifting and securing the 1,050-tonne domed structure almost 104 feet (32 metres) off the ground.

"The complexity of the roof raising is, in itself, a construction feat with 1,050 tonnes of carbon steel, stainless steel and aluminium materials lifted into place by low air-volume created by fans, which, in principle, is not dissimilar to blowing up a camping air bed."

With the roof of the first tank now in place, the team will look to raising the roof on the second tank in the coming months.

The LNG facility, which is progressing on schedule with 2,300 people now working onsite, has seen a number of key developments over the past six months, including the completion of the material offloading facility, the arrival of the first modules, and the commencement of work on both processing trains.

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