Gladstone ships first LNG-from-CBM cargo

The first shipment of LNG from the Gladstone LNG project has been loaded and is now on its way to South Korea. The plant at Curtis Island will produce 7.2 million tpy of LNG at full capacity.

Arnaud Bruillac, President, Exploration and Production, commented: “Gladstone LNG is a major milestone for our activity in Australia, marking the beginning of the Group’s LNG production in the country. As the Group’s sixth start-up of the year the project will also contribute to our production growth in 2015. We are continuing to develop LNG assets in Australia, with the Ichthys project, expected to start up in 2017.”

Located in Queensland, Australia, the project comprises the development of several onshore coal bed methane fields in the Surat and Bowen basins, a 420 km gas transmission pipeline, and a two-train liquefactions plant on Curtis Island, near Gladstone.

Queensland Resources Council response

Queensland Resources Council Chief Executive, Michael Roche, has congratulated Total and the partner companies upon reaching the major milestone of its first shipment of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Curtis Island, near Gladstone.

Mr Roche said there was great symbolism in the departure of the LNG cargo for South Korea from Santos’ US$18.5 billion GLNG project in the week when the QRC launched its 2014/15 Economic Contribution Report.

“Today is the perfect illustration of the contribution that the resources sector makes to the Queensland and Australian economies,” Mr Roche said. “The QRC’s report shows that the resources sector contributed $64.8 billion in 2014/15 to Queensland’s prosperity and the gas industry’s share was $22.1 billion or more than one third of that. That translates to $954 million in wages to 5268 direct full-time employees and a flow on benefit that has supported another 109 000 Queensland jobs in 2014/15.”

Mr Roche said the Queensland economy and gas sector was now returning to a more normal phase where production and operational expenditure dominated the resources sector.

“Queensland's budget is starting to reap the benefits as well, with Treasury expecting to receive royalties from gas companies this financial year of over $100 million, rising to over $500 million by 2018/19, revenue that can pay for schools, hospitals and roads throughout the state. Today is a significant step in the continuing story of Queensland’s rise as a major player in the supply of gas to the world, especially Asia,” Mr Roche said.

Edited from press release by Angharad Lock

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcoal.com/cbm/16102015/gladstone-lng-ships-first-lng-cargo-1416/