The Origin Energy Ltd.-led Australia Pacific LNG (APLNG) coal seam gas-to-LNG (CSG-LNG) project has been brought on stream on Curtis Island near Gladstone on the central east coast of Queensland.
The $24.7-billion (Aus.) project is the third CSG-LNG development on Curtis Island following the BG Group and the Santos group in the past 12 months. APLNG’s first LNG shipment is expected before yearend.
Concept to completion has been more than 7 years and employed some 15,000 personnel in the Surat-Bowen basin fields and on Curtis Island work.
Origin with 37.5% is partnered by ConocoPhillips, also 37.5%, and Sinopec with 25%.
Sinopec is also the major customer for the LNG with an agreement to take 7.6 million tonnes/year for 20 years. Kansai of Japan will take 1 million tpy for 20 years.
Depressed oil prices mean that cash flows from APLNG (and the BG and Santos plants) will be lower than originally anticipated, in the initial years at least.
The three Curtis Island plants, representing in excess of $70-billion (Aus.) investment, are the first in the world to produce LNG from a CSG feedstock.