PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Australia Pacific Liquefied Natural Gas (APLNG) project partners have struck a deal with Queensland Curtis Liquefied Natural Gas (QCLNG) over long-term infrastructure sharing agreements between the two projects.

Under the tolling agreements, the QCLNG project will be able to transport and process gas and water from the Arrow Energy Surat basin fields using available capacity in existing APLNG-QCLNG joint infrastructure.

The infrastructure sharing arrangements will start in 2020 and continue until 2035, with options to extend to the end of 2049.

QCLNG and Arrow Energy in December last year reached an agreement to market Arrow Energy’s gas reserves in the Surat basin over a 27-year period. The collaboration between Arrow and QCLNG will bring an additional 240 PJ/y, or 655 TJ/d, of gas to the Queensland market at peak production, with first production targeted in 2020.

In addition, APLNG on Monday announced that it had secured up to 350 PJ of gas from the QCLNG project.

The agreement to buy gas from the QCLNG project at an oil-linked price over ten years from 2024 will diversify and strengthen APLNG’s gas portfolio, the joint venture partners said.

“APLNG has taken the opportunity to grow and diversify our gas portfolio, while the tolling agreements with QCLNG allows us to maximise value from our investment in existing infrastructure,” said CEO Warwick King.

“These arrangements demonstrate the industry’s determination to develop more gas for the market, in the most efficient way possible so we can keep costs down.

“Working together and using existing infrastructure will not only enable lower cost development of new gas supplies, it will also minimise impacts on landholders and local communities by avoiding duplication of infrastructure,” King said.

These agreements are subject to Arrow Energy taking certain final investment decisions in connection with the development of its Surat basin fields.

APLNG is Queensland’s largest LNG project, and one of the biggest gas suppliers to the domestic market. In 2018, APLNG supplied close to 30% of total east coast gas demand.