Santos GLNG has fed natural gas into its 420km gas transmission pipeline for the first time via its primary compressor station in the Fairview field in south-west Queensland.
Santos Vice President Downstream GLNG Rod Duke said he was pleased to take another important step towards Santos GLNG’s first shipment of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Gladstone Harbour next year.
“Commissioning of our pipeline is an important milestone, not only for our business, but the Queensland LNG industry as a whole,” Mr Duke said.
Once fully commissioned and in operation, the pipeline will transport up to 40 million cubic metres of natural gas each day from Santos GLNG’s gas fields to its gas liquefaction plant on Curtis Island, off Gladstone, where it will be cooled to minus 161 degrees Celsius and shipped to customers as LNG.
“Building such a big pipeline is no easy task. Construction began in 2012, and since then we’ve worked more than six million hours on this part of our project,” Mr Duke said.
“We’ve welded more than 36,000 segments of 1.05m diameter pipe, weighing in excess of 250,000 tonnes in total.
“We’ve also individually negotiated land access agreements with more than 120 landholders, and we’re proud of the strong relationships we’ve built with property owners and local communities over this time.
“I’d like to thank everyone involved in the pipeline project for safely reaching this milestone, as well as the
communities along the pipeline route for their patience and support over the past two-and-a-half years.”
Mr Duke said work in Santos GLNG’s gas fields across the Bowen and Surat Basins and construction of the LNG plant at Curtis Island were also progressing strongly towards first LNG in 2015.
“We’re leading the way in building a new and exciting industry for Queensland, which is already delivering and will continue to deliver significant economic benefits for our state for many years to come.”
The pipeline will now be progressively filled with gas, section by section, with first gas into the Santos GLNG plant scheduled for later this year.
Saipem Australia constructed the pipeline for Santos GLNG. Santos GLNG is a pioneering joint venture between Santos, PETRONAS, Total and KOGAS to supply liquefied natural gas to global markets.
