Through their Queensland Curtis LNG Project, Queensland Gas Co. Ltd. and BG Group plc plan to develop gas in the eastern Australian state for both domestic and international markets. The companies are pursuing the project as an alliance, with QGC providing its expertise in coal seam gas exploration and production and BG offering its experience with the operations, marketing, and shipping functions within the liquefied natural gas (LNG) sector.

The project calls for expanding QGC coal seam gas operations in the Surat Basin. QGC has an 80-percent stake in the gas fields while BG owns 20 percent. The alliance also envisions developing, building, and operating a 380-km main gas pipeline that would ship gas from the Surat Basin to the Gladstone, Queensland, area. The main line, along with a network of gas connection pipelines, would be able to ship enough gas to support three LNG trains. QGC and BG would own equal shares of the pipeline.

Once the gas arrives at an LNG processing plant and export facility near Gladstone, it would be liquefied using a refinement of the ConocoPhillips Optimized Cascade Process. Bechtel is performing the front-end engineering design (FEED) work for this technology, which cools and ultimately liquefies gas through three cycles of refrigeration. BG would operate the plant and own a 70-percent stake in it, with QGC holding the remaining 30 percent.

According to the alliance, a final investment decision on the project is slated for early 2010. Should the project go forward, the first shipment of LNG from the facility is anticipated in late 2013. The project would create approximately 3,600 construction jobs and more than 800 jobs during operations.

Note that BG had increased its ownership of QGC to approximately 97% of the issued share capital as of Dec. 5, 2008, and was in the process of acquiring the outstanding share capital it did not own.