Queensland Curtis Liquid Natural Gas Project on Track, Despite Alleged Vandalism

---

Researched by Industrial Info Resources Australia (Perth, Australia)--The Queensland Curtis Liquid Natural Gas (QCLNG) project is one of the largest resource and construction projects to be undertaken in Australia. When complete in 2014, it also will be the world's first to turn coal-seam gas into liquefied natural gas (LNG).

The owner of the project, the Queensland Gas Company (QGC) (Brisbane, Australia), says that it will inject about $32.9 billion (AU$32 billion) into the Australian economy, with an additional $1.03 billion (AU$1 billion) in royalties and taxes each year. It also says that natural gas is an environmentally sensible fuel source, producing about 20% less carbon dioxide emissions than oil, and up to 70% less greenhouse gas emissions than coal when burned to create the same amount of electricity.

But the project is not without its critics. Many environmental groups and anti-development activists have protested construction sites and lobbied state and federal governments to halt the ongoing construction. QGC) believes that some activists have escalated to vandalism and are responsible for damaging earthwork at a pipeline creek crossing near Miles, Queensland. QGC claims the activists used a high-pressure water spray to damage a small holding dam and removed safety barriers and signs. The company says the damage was intended to disrupt the QCLNG Project.

However, given the immense size of the project, one small act of vandalism is not likely to impact progress. When complete, QGC will source gas from about 2,000 wells dotted around the Surat Basin. These wells are linked to one of 24 field compression stations, each serving several dozen wells. The field compression stations will remove impurities and water, as well as compress the gas into a network of underground pipelines for transport to a central processing plant.

By 2014, QGC hopes to have six central processing plants in operation, which are designed to remove the last traces of water and further compress the gas into the main transmission pipeline to the LNG facility on Curtis Island. The main transmission pipeline is a 42-inch-diameter (540-kilometre) steel pipeline.

The LNG facility on Curtis Island will consist of two LNG production trains, each producing more than 4 million tonnes of LNG annually; two 280,000-cubic-metre LNG storage tanks; a marine facility for passenger and equipment transport between the mainland and Curtis Island; and a marine loading facility for LNG cargo.

Queensland Gas Company is a subsidiary of the multi-national company BG Group (LSE:BG) (Reading, England).

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, and eight offices outside of North America, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.