Sydney-based Australian Industrial Energy Group (AIE) has received development consent from the New South Wales Government for its plan to import LNG into Port Kembla on the NSW coast.
The aim is to begin deliveries of gas into the Australian east coast grid by late 2020.
AIE says construction of the terminal is expected to take 12-14 months from a final investment decision which is scheduled for the middle of this year. Capital investment will be A$200-300 million.
Discussions for gas supply agreements are taking place with 22 potential customers.
Last year AIE signed a deal with Hoegh LNG of Norway for the use of a floating storage and regasification unit for the proposed Port Kembla terminal.
The plan is for the FSRU to be moored at Berth 101 in Port Kembla’s inner harbor and accept cargos of LNG from incoming LNG carriers, store the LNG and convert it onboard from liquid back to gas for transfer onshore and piping into the gas transmission network.
The facility is expected to have a capacity to supply around 100 petajoules a year. This would require an LNG shipment every 2 weeks. There will be potential to expand to 140 petajoules a year with a slight increase in the LNG delivery schedule and upgrades to the pipeline networks.
The AIE consortium comprises Squadon Energy (established by Australian mining magnate Andrew Forrest), Marubeni and Jera of Japan.
The Port Kembla import project is one of five currently being contemplated, including AGL’s Crib Point project and ExxonMobil’s proposal, both in Victoria, EPIK’s Newcastle LNG in New South Wales and Venice Energy’s plan for Port Adelaide in South Australia.
