Queensland Curtis LNG
Queenslan Curtis LNG Converting coal seam gas into liquefied neutral gas
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ith global demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) continuing to rise, gas producers are searching for innovative and flexible ways to add volume to their portfolios. For the past three years, one project in Australia has been using cutting-edge technology to deliver a world-first solution that is helping meet demand for the valuable natural resource.
Queensland Curtis LNG Project The Queensland Curtis LNG Project was announced in 2008 by QGC Limited, following an agreed takeover of the
company by the UK-based BG Group. Expected to cost around $US20.4 billion in the first phase, it was developed as a joint venture with foundation customers China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) and Tokyo Gas. Construction began in 2010, with the project comprising of three principle components: - the expansion of QGC’s coal seam gas operations in the Surat Basin in southern Queensland, which included drilling more than 2000 new wells and constructing 21 new upstream processing facilities; - the development, construction and
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operation of a 54km underground pipeline network linking the Surat Basin gas fields to a LNG facility in Gladstone; and - the development, construction and operation of a LNG processing plant on a 270 hectare site within the industrial precinct on Curtis Island, near Gladstone. Comprising of two processing units, also known as trains, the plant has a production capacity of 8.5 million tonnes per annum (mtpa). World first The Queensland Curtis LNG Project was designed to convert the natural gas reserves found in QGC’s Surat Basin coal seams into a LNG form suitable for export to foreign countries. At the time it was proposed, no other project in the world had successfully been able to utilise coal seam gas for LNG. But after seven years of planning, development and construction activities, the BG Group broke new ground when a specially-designed LNG vessel began loading gas produced at the liquefaction plant’s first processing unit, known as Train 1, in December 2014. The first cargo of LNG departed Curtis Island in January 2015, with commercial operations commencing from Train 1 in May that year. Two months later BG Group started up and loaded the first LNG from Train 2, the plant’s second processing unit. Operating 24 hours a day, the plant reached a plateau last year, producing 8mtpa, which is equivalent to around 120 cargoes per year, with the LNG exported
to customers in China, Japan, Singapore, India, Taiwan, Korea. In 2016, Royal Dutch Shell plc took 100 per cent ownership of BG Group and all its assets, including the Queensland Curtis LNG Project. Innovative at work While the Queensland Curtis LNG Project is the first to use coal seam gas, the innovative technology used to convert that gas into a liquid ready for transport is not new. Using the ConocoPhillips Optimized Cascade process, which was first employed by the Kenai LNG plant in Alaska in
1969, the natural gas is treated to remove impurities before being chilled in three successively colder refrigeration processes (propane, ethylene, methane) until it reaches a liquid state (LNG) at -162°C. The volume of the liquefied gas is now around 600 times smaller than its original state - the equivalent of reducing a 43cm beach ball to the size of a ping-pong ball. This is necessary to ensure the gas can be safely and economically transported over long distances. Stored inside 10-storey high insulated tanks at near atmospheric pressure, the LNG is loaded onto double-hulled vessels
to be shipped to a customer’s receiving terminal, where the gas is returned to ambient temperature ready for use. Sustainable and safe Sustainability is a major focus within Australia’s mining and gas industries, with producers working to reduce the environmental impact of their operations. At the Queensland Curtis LNG Project, cutting edge technology has been used to make it the world’s most greenhouse efficient LNG plant outside the Arctic Circle, where naturally cold temperatures create a natural advantage.
It was the first LNG plant in the world to be fitted with GE Dry Low Emissions turbines instead of heavy duty turbines, a move that has reduced its greenhouse emissions output by about 27 per cent. Employee safety is also high on the list of priorities in this industrial sector, with the Queensland Curtis LNG Project using worldclass systems including significant controls and risk reduction measures to ensure risks are minimised on site. Operators are given extensive training in the plant’s integrated control and safety system, which features an emergency blowdown system that allows sections
of the plant, or the whole plant, to be depressurised following the activation of flame or gas detectors. Dedicated fire and rescue crews ensure the company has one of the largest private fire services in Australia, with crews based at both Curtis Island and at its processing facilities in the Surat Basin. The addition of a purpose-built $1.1 million fire truck further enhances the emergency response capability of the Curtis Island plant. Contributing to community There’s no doubt a project of this magnitude has the potential to make a
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real difference within the community and broader state and national economies. Closest to home, the Queensland Curtis LNG Project has been delivering a range of social and economic benefits, providing 3500 direct jobs and supporting countless more indirect employment opportunities within the Queensland communities in which it operates. The company has also set aside $6 million for one-off community projects as part of its Sustainable Communities Fund, with another $150 million spent on managing impacts and maximising community benefits.
The project’s wider economic benefits are also significant according to the project’s Environmental Impact Statement, which noted it had the potential to generate an annual average royalty income for Queensland of between $150 million and $330 million, as well as an annual average tax income for the Federal Government of between $600 million and $1.1 billion, depending on oil prices. With an expected 20-year project life, the benefits of the Queensland Curtis LNG are sure to be felt both now and well into the future.
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