Australia’s Gladstone LNG starts production on schedule: Santos

The Gladstone LNG (GLNG) project has started producing its first liquefied natural gas on Curtis Island, Queensland, on schedule and within budget, Santos announced Thursday.

LNG is currently being produced from Train 1 ahead of the first cargo, which is expected to be shipped to Asian markets in the coming weeks.

Work on the second train is continuing to progress well, with Train 2 expected to be ready for start-up by the end of the year.

Santos' managing director and CEO David Knox said Thursday’s announcement marked the most significant milestone to date for Santos’ first operated LNG project.

“We said we’d produce first LNG around the end of the third quarter, and that’s exactly what we’ve done,” Knox said. “Our upstream facilities are fully operational and performing well, we’re producing LNG on Curtis Island, and we’re now looking forward to safely delivering our first LNG cargo in the coming weeks.”

GLNG is a pioneering venture, which produces natural gas from Queensland’s coal seams and converts it into LNG. It involves gas field development in the Surat and Bowen basins, a 420-km gas transmission pipeline and a two-train LNG plant on Curtis Island, near Gladstone, which will have the capacity to produce 7.8 million tonnes of LNG per year when fully operational.

Santos is the operator and has a 30% interest in the project. Other co-venturers include PETRONAS (27.5%), Total (27.5%) and KOGAS (15%).

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