1.2.2.2.7 Gas production for liquefied natural gas projects

Three large scale LNG projects are currently under construction on Curtis Island near Gladstone. These will obtain at least part of their gas supply from gas fields in the Surat Basin in the Maranoa-Balonne-Condamine subregion. These are the Queensland Curtis LNG (QCLNG) Project, the Gladstone LNG (GLNG) Project, and the Australia Pacific LNG (APLNG) Project which are described in more detail in Section 1.2.3.2 (Proposals and Exploration). Due to the characteristics of CSG recovery, CSG production typically does not peak immediately but requires depressurisation of the seams through water production and only peaks after months or even years of recovery. Therefore, gas extraction commences before commissioning of the LNG facilities to allow time to ramp-up production. Strategies to manage ramp-up gas include sale to the domestic market, supply to gas fired power stations, and underground storage (APLNG, 2010; QGC, 2009; Santos, 2009). Thus, the gas fields of the LNG developments already produce and sell gas before the commercial LNG operation commences.