Liquefied Natural Gas: Fuelling the future

QEPrize donor company BG Group is generating energy in a new form. In a large scale project taking place in Australia, they are harvesting gas from coal seams to create liquefied natural gas, known as LNG.

The project, called Queensland Curtis LNG (QCLNG), has been in development for more than four years on Curtis Island. Construction of the facility involved building 2,500 wells and a 540km network of underground pipelines, with a further 3,500 wells to be drilled by the year 2030.

LNG production from the facility started in December 2014. The gas is drawn from coal seams, chilled to -160 degrees and then shipped out globally. Production took a step up when a second LNG production train was started up in July this year. In November, commercial operations began from the second train. Helge Lund, BG Group’s Chief Executive, commented on the success of the project, saying, “With both trains now fully operational, QCLNG adds significant volumes and flexibility to our LNG shipping and marketing portfolio.”It is expected that by 2016, QCLNG will be able to produce around 8 million tonnes of LNG a year. The LNG will be exported to international markets including China, Japan and Singapore.

To find out more about the QCLNG project, visit BG Group's website.