Australia Based QCLNG Loads First Cargo

BG Group on Monday announced that it has been loading the first cargo of LNG from its Queensland Curtis LNG (QCLNG) facility since December 28.

The vessel being loaded is the Methane Rita Andrea which would deliver the cargo to China. The second cargo of LNG from the facility will be loaded onto the Methane Mickie Harper which is expected in Gladstone in the first week of January.

QCLNG is the world's first LNG project to be supplied by coal seam gas. 

"This is an immense achievement which demonstrates the company's ability to deliver a highly complex LNG project," Andrew Gould, interim Executive Chairman commented.

The project will expand further with the start-up of the second train in the third quarter of 2015. At plateau production, expected during 2016, QCLNG will have an output of around 8 million tonnes of LNG a year.

Earlier this month, BG Group agreed to sell its wholly-owned subsidiary QCLNG Pipeline Pty Ltd to Australia’s APA Group for about $5 billion.

QCLNG Pipeline Pty Ltd owns a 543 kilometre, large-diameter underground pipeline network linking BG Group's natural gas fields in southern Queensland to a two-train liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility at Gladstone on Australia's east coast.

The sale of this non-core infrastructure is consistent with BG Group's strategy of actively managing its global asset portfolio, the company said.