QGC coal seam gas will become LNG for heavy transport fuel from Queensland to Victoria.
Network of LNG refuelling stations to be developed
BOC, a member of The Linde Group, and Queensland Gas Company Ltd (QGC), a BG Group business, have established a long-term gas supply agreement worth more than USD 90 million that puts the companies on track to extend a new transport fuel industry to Queensland and completes a planned interstate network of liquefied natural gas (LNG) refuelling stations for the trucking industry. As part of the agreement, QGC will supply BOC with up to 30 petajoules of coal seam gas over 15 years.
QGC will supply gas to BOC from July 2011, putting the companies on track to become the first in Australia to produce LNG from coal seam gas, through safe and proven liquefaction technology.
To process the gas into LNG, BOC will build a micro-LNG plant similar to the one that BOC is now constructing in Westbury, Tasmania. The plant, planned to be built near QGC’s gas fields in the Surat Basin, will produce 50 tonnes of LNG a day – equivalent to 70,000 litres of diesel – for heavy transport and industry.
“This agreement heralds the extension of a new industry to Queensland based on coal seam gas where heavy transport may switch to LNG, an environmentally cleaner fuel than current alternatives,” said the Premier of Queensland, the Honourable Anna Bligh MP, adding that “Queensland will join with other states as BOC develops an innovative network of LNG refuelling stations along the east coast of Australia for vehicles converted to run on LNG”.
Coal seam gas in the Surat Basin of southern Queensland is typically more than 98% methane with only small amounts of nitrogen and carbon dioxide. As such, it requires relatively little treatment before it is turned into liquefied natural gas by cooling to about -162 degrees centigrade, taking up 600 times less volume than as a gas. It can then easily be stored in tanks at low pressure and be used as a fuel for heavy transport.
Natural gas is one of the safest transportation fuels and offers a number of critical environmental advantages when compared to competing hydrocarbon fuels, including significantly lower carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions and cleaner air quality. As a result, the United Nations-based Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (ICPP) identified gas utilisation as an important short and medium-term technology to help mitigate climate change.
BOC plans to complete an interstate network of liquefied natural gas refuelling stations for the trucking industry, building and operating up to eight refuelling stations from Queensland to Victoria. As a starting point in Queensland, BOC proposes to build a refuelling station on the Warrego Highway, subject to further discussions with its customers.
These stations will be supplied from BOC’s existing liquefaction plant in Victoria and the one to be built in the Surat Basin. The Victorian plant and another under construction in Tasmania are based on the use of conventional gas. BOC expects to spend at least $100 million – exclusive of gas – on construction and operation during the lifetime of the project.
BOC South Pacific Managing Director Colin Isaac said the agreement marked an important step in the development of LNG, an innovative new fuel, for the transport industry. “Using coal seam gas to create LNG as a transport fuel is an Australian first.”
“When construction is complete, this plant will supply a cleaner fuel than diesel with a more stable price. That’s a big win for trucking operators, for the environment and the local economy. LNG is a reliable and proven technology that will offer Queensland’s trucking operators an economically and environmentally appealing alternative to diesel.”
“Importantly, natural gas is a well-accepted fuel, with [more than] 10 million vehicles worldwide fuelled by natural gas. In Australia, buses operate in Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Canberra on this fuel. Safety is of paramount concern to both BOC and QGC,” Isaac added.
BOC and QGC comment that the liquefied natural gas industry has earned an enviable reputation for safety in half a century of commercial operations. This record is the product of continuous improvement of technology, safety equipment, comprehensive safety procedures, training and equipment maintenance.
(Este artículo también está disponible en Espanol)
Print 
PDF 