Australia Pacific LNG is on track to ship its first cargo in mid-2015, after passing three key construction milestones in recent weeks, including the completion of the main gas transmission pipeline, upstream operator Origin Energy said Friday.
The A$24.7 billion (US$23.2 billion) coalseam gas-to-LNG project in Gladstone on Australia's east coast is owned 37.5% each by Origin and downstream operator ConocoPhillips. The remaining 25% of the project, which will produce 9 million mt/year from two LNG trains, is held by China's Sinopec.
At the liquefaction facilities on Curtis Island in Gladstone harbor, hydrotesting of the first of the LNG tanks has begun, Origin said. The testing process takes up to 26 days for each tank and requires filling the tanks with water to test their weight-bearing ability.
"Testing the integrity, quality and stability of the LNG storage tanks is a crucial part of ensuring they are ready to receive the first LNG, and we are pleased that our tank construction has reached this point," Australia Pacific LNG CEO Page Maxson said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the project's 530 km main high pressure gas transmission pipeline has been completed and it is now being progressively placed into service. The pipeline is a critical piece of infrastructure linking Australia Pacific LNG's coalseam gas fields in Queensland's Surat and Bowen basins with the LNG facility on Curtis Island, Maxson said.
In other progress, the Condabri Central train one was commissioned last month and is now delivering gas into the domestic network, together with gas from Australia Pacific LNG's existing Spring Gully and Talinga facilities. Condabri Central is the first of seven new gas processing facilities being constructed, Origin said.
