JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The operators of the Santos GLNG and the QGC projects on Thursday signed a collaboration agreement that would result in the construction of two interconnections to link the projects.
The $18.5-billion Santos GLNG project, which is a joint venture between oil and gas producer Santos and liquefied natural gas (LNG) companies Petronas, Total and Kogas, will convert coal seam gas to LNG.
The project involves developing gasfields from the Bowen and Surat basins in south-western Queensland and transporting the gas through a 420 km underground pipeline to an LNG plant on Curtis Island, off the coast of Gladstone.
Coal seam gas explorer and producer QGC was developing a separate project to convert coal seam gas into LNG.
The agreed interconnections – one on the western side of the Narrows Crossing, near Mt Larcom, in central Queensland, and the other on Curtis Island – will link the two projects’ pipelines.
The construction of the two interconnect points was expected to be completed in 2014.
Santos GLNG Downstream VP Rod Duke said the construction of the interconnections will help both QGC and Santos GLNG to run their LNG plants as efficiently as possible.
“The interconnect points will enable gas to flow from one project to the other when necessary, for example to allow for LNG plant downtime and planned maintenance to occur without interrupting either project’s gasfield operations.
“Ultimately, it means the two companies will be able to buy, sell and swap gas at these points during scheduled and unscheduled events, thereby maximising plant productivity,” he added.