At the 2011 Australian Pipeline Industry Association Convention, held in Sydney, Australian Minister for Resources and Energy the Hon. Martin Ferguson said that the nation is set to become the world’s second-biggest exporter of LNG.

“Estimates for next year are for Australia’s exports of LNG to be around 20 MMt,” said Mr Ferguson.

“Australia’s seven new LNG projects in various stages of construction comprise more than $A140 billion of new investment.

“As Australia becomes the world’s second-biggest exporter of LNG, our pipeline industry will be front and centre in facilitating this development.”

Queensland’s CSG-to-LNG projects

The proposed and under construction CSG-to-LNG projects in Queensland have turned the northeastern state into a hub of pipeline activity.

A joint venture between ConocoPhillips, Sinopec and Origin Energy, the Australia Pacific LNG (APLNG) Project is an 18 MMt/a, initially two-train (increasing to four) CSG-to-LNG project that will further develop Origin’s CSG resources in the Surat and Bowen basins in central Queensland.

The project will involve construction of a 530 km, 42 inch diameter gas pipeline system consisting of a main pipeline and two laterals. The pipeline system will connect the gas fields to an LNG processing plant to be located on Curtis Island.

The main pipeline will be constructed with AP I5L X70 grade steel, which will be externally coated with dual-layer fusion-bonded epoxy and lined internally. It will have a design pressure of 13.5 MPa and have the capacity to deliver up to 1,560 TJ/d of gas.

In September 2011, the Queensland Government Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation granted APLNG a petroleum pipeline licence for the construction and operation of the pipeline system. At the time of writing, the pipe for the system was currently in production in Japan, with first delivery to the Gladstone Port expected in January 2012.

Pipeline construction is expected to commence in early 2012 with the first train of the project scheduled for completion by mid-2015, and the second scheduled for early 2016. The timing of construction of subsequent trains will depend on the LNG market and gas field development.

Arrow Energy’s proposed Arrow LNG Plant Project involves construction of an 18 MMt/a LNG facility on Curtis Island, which will be supplied with CSG from the Surat and Bowen basins through two pipelines.

One of these pipelines is the 500 km, 38 inch diameter Arrow Bowen Pipeline (ABP), which will extend from Arrow’s Bowen Basin operations at a point 80 km north of Moranbah to the proposed LNG plant at Curtis Island.

In early September 2011, Arrow conducted environmental surveys along the ABP route. Arrow plans to submit the environmental impact statement (EIS) for the ABP by the end of 2011. A final investment decision (FID) for the Arrow LNG Project is scheduled for late 2013, with construction expected to follow shortly after.

The second pipeline is the 470 km, 26 inch diameter Arrow Surat Pipeline (ASP), which will connect Arrow’s Surat Basin CSG tenements to the LNG facility. The ASP EIS was approved in 2009, and the pipeline licence and environmental authority were issued in 2010.

Construction will begin after FID in late 2013, and is expected to take approximately 16 months to build, weather permitting.

Arrow Energy is owned by a 50-50 joint venture between Shell and PetroChina.

The GLNG Project, located at Curtis Island, will produce 7.8 MMt/a of LNG through a two-train LNG facility, with space at the site for three more trains.

A 435 km, 36 inch diameter gas transmission pipeline will transport CSG from Santos’ Fairview and Roma fields in the Surat Basin to the LNG facility, with gas additionally sourced from the Bowen Basin.

Saipem has been contracted for construction of the gas transmission pipeline, which is expected to commence this year. First LNG export is scheduled in 2015.

GLNG is a joint venture between Santos, Petronas, Total and Korea Gas.

BG Group and QGC’s Queensland Curtis LNG (QCLNG) Project will develop CSG from the Surat Basin through a two-train LNG processing plant with the capacity to produce 8.5 MMt/a of LNG, to be located on Curtis Island.

The project will involve an API 5L X70 grade 540 km, 42 inch diameter main pipeline, comprising a 194 km collection header pipeline, a 334 km export pipeline, and a 12 km crossing at the Narrows. The main pipeline will be coated with a dual-layer fusion-bonded epoxy coating, and have a transport capacity of 1,360 MMcf/d. The project also involves a 13 km lateral.

At the time of writing, all 540 km of steel pipe for the main pipeline had been manufactured and shipped to Queensland. The construction contractor – a joint venture between McConnell Dowell and Consolidated Contracting Company Australia – had started construction. Completion of the pipeline is scheduled for 2012, with LNG production to commence in 2014.

Through its subsidiary Gladstone LNG Pty Ltd, LNG Ltd proposes to develop a two-train, 3 MMt/a LNG plant at Fisherman’s Landing Wharf in the Port of Gladstone. The Gladstone ‘Fisherman’s Landing’ LNG Project involves construction of a 22 km, 24 inch diameter pipeline, for which LNG Ltd has already secured a pipeline licence. The pipeline will be capable of transporting 520 TJ/d of gas, supplied from either existing infrastructure or infrastructure to be developed.

Jemena has entered into an interim front-end engineering and design (FEED) agreement with LNG Ltd for the possible expansion of the 627 km Queensland Gas Pipeline (QGP) to supply gas to the Gladstone ‘Fisherman’s Landing’ LNG Project in 2014. This follows the completion of Jemena’s pre-FEED study to determine if the QGP could be expanded to ship an additional 180 PJ/a of gas from the Wallumbilla gas hub to the Callide gas hub and onward to Fisherman’s Landing.

Due to the growth of Queensland’s CSG reserves, Epic Energy is undertaking the QSN 3 Project, a 937 km pipeline which loops both the South West Queensland (SWQP) and QSN Link pipelines, also owned by Epic Energy.

The SWQP links Queensland’s CSG fields with the QSN Link pipeline, which connects into the Moomba to Sydney Pipeline System and the Moomba to Adelaide Pipeline. The new line will be offset 10 m from the existing pipeline and transport approximately 380 TJ/d of gas from Wallumbilla, Queensland, to Moomba, South Australia, through API 5L X70 PSL 2 grade steel pipeline.

Epic Energy has finalised construction and commissioning of the compression station at Wallumbilla, while pipeline construction nears completion.

New South Wales’ CSG pipelines

CSG is also taking off in New South Wales (NSW), where a number of pipeline projects are required to transport the gas to market.

Metgasco plans to build the 145 km Lions Way Pipeline from Casino in northern NSW to deliver gas to Ipswich in southeast Queensland.

Metgasco is currently investigating any potential environmental impacts from the construction and operation of the pipeline. Construction of the pipeline is expected to commence in 2012.

The company has also entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to study the feasibility of gas supply to LNG Ltd’s Gladstone ‘Fisherman’s Landing’ LNG Project. This would see the pipeline extended to the Port of Gladstone.

In 2008, Macquarie Generation received approval for two gas pipeline projects to supply CSG as a supplementary fuel to its Liddell Power Station.

The 20 inch diameter Liddell Pipeline has a total length of 76 km, consisting of a 25 km east-west component running from the Liddell Power Station to the Mt Arthur Coal Mine, and a 51 km north-south component connecting CSG mines in the Hunter Valley to the power station.

A construction schedule has not yet been determined, however it is expected that the pipeline will take five months to complete.

AGL is currently engaged in route selection and refinement for the Stratford to Hexham Pipeline associated with its Gloucester Gas Project, to be located 100 km north of Newcastle, NSW.

The pipeline is expected to take 4–5 months to be constructed, and to be approximately 98 km in length, with a diameter ranging from 10–18 inches. The Gloucester Gas Project received approval from the NSW Government Planning Assessment Commission in March 2011.

As part of its Narrabri Gas Project, Eastern Star Gas (ESG) has selected a preferred route and is currently in the process of securing approvals and land access arrangements for its 272 km Narrabri to Wellington Pipeline. The pipeline will transport gas from ESG’s CSG tenements near Narrabri to the company’s proposed gas-fired power station in Wellington, NSW.

The pipeline is expected to be completed by 2013.

Approvals and land access arrangements are currently underway for ESG’s proposed LNG export project in Newcastle, NSW. The LNG Newcastle Project will involve a 400 km pipeline with a capacity of up to 150 PJ/a, which will supply CSG from Narrabri to a proposed LNG plant to be located on Kooragang Island. First LNG export is scheduled for 2015.

Offshore Western Australia

Across the other side of the continent, the pipeline industry is just as active. In particular, the North West Shelf (NWS) region, offshore Western Australia (WA), is currently seeing construction of numerous projects involving pipelines to commercialise the resource-rich area.

The Woodside-operated NWS Project remains Australia’s largest operating resources development after more than 25 years of production. The project includes twin 135 km, 40 inch diameter pipelines that connects the North Rankin A Platform to a gas plant at Karratha, and a 30 inch pipeline connecting the North Rankin A Platform to the Goodwyn A Platform, 23 km away.

The Angel Platform was installed in 2008. This is unmanned facility that manifolds hydrocarbons and sends them through a 30 inch export pipeline a distance of 49 km back to the North Rankin A Platform.

Woodside’s Pluto LNG Project is located in the Carnarvon Basin approximately 190 km northwest of Karratha, WA. The project brings gas from the Pluto and Xena fields onshore through a 180 km long, 36 inch diameter trunkline.

While the entire project is not expected to start until 2012, the pipeline component of the project was successfully commissioned in April 2011.

The proposed Browse LNG Development, also operated by Woodside, will transport gas and liquids from deepwater facilities to a central processing facility 70 km away, before bringing hydrocarbons onshore through a 315 km long, 42 inch diameter export pipeline and a 20 inch liquids pipeline. This project will also incorporate the first steel catenary risers installed in the Australasia region.

Neighbouring Woodside’s projects are the Chevron-operated proposed Gorgon and Wheatstone LNG developments, also located in the NWS region.

The Gorgon LNG Development will transport gas from the Gorgon and Jansz fields through a 90 km long, 20 inch diameter subsea pipeline to Barrow Island in WA, the site of a proposed three-train, 15 MMt/a LNG processing plant. The pipeline will interconnect with the 1,596 km Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline (DBNGP) on the WA mainland to deliver compressed domestic gas while LNG will also be shipped to international markets.

Construction has been underway since December 2009, with first gas due in 2014.

The Wheatstone LNG Project has also entered its construction phase following FID in September 2011. The foundation phase of the project consists of two LNG processing trains with a combined capacity of 8.9 MMt/a and associated offshore infrastructure, including a 220 km, 34 inch diameter export pipeline that will transport gas from the Wheatstone and Iago gas fields 200 km north of Onslow to a proposed onshore 250 MMcf/d domestic gas plant, to be located at Ashburton North, WA.

The company has applied for an additional three processing trains, which could bring the project’s total capacity up to 25 MMt/a of LNG.

In June 2011, the Streicher-Clough joint venture was awarded a contract for pipeline construction work on the Macedon Gas Field Development by proponent BHP Billiton. The project will involve the development of the Macedon gas fields located in the Exmouth Sub-basin approximately 100 km west of Onslow and 40 km north of Exmouth, WA.

The project will involve four offshore production wells supplying a 90.5 km long, 20 inch diameter wet gas pipeline to an onshore gas treatment plant to be constructed at Ashburton North. A 67 km long, 20 inch diameter sales gas pipeline will interconnect with the DBNGP for sale to the domestic gas market. Completion of the pipeline is expected in May 2012 with first gas scheduled in 2013.

Apache Energy’s Devil Creek Development Project will commercialise gas extracted from the offshore Reindeer gas field, located approximately 80 km off the Port of Dampier, WA. The gas will be transported from a wellhead platform located in the field to the onshore Devil Creek processing facility via a 110 km, 16 inch diameter pipeline, before being processed and fed into the DBNGP.

At the time of writing, both the onshore and offshore sections of the pipeline were complete with construction of the entire project nearing completion.

Papua New Guinea

Heading north, Papua New Guinea (PNG) has also been looking to tap into the LNG market.

In 2006, InterOil proposed the Gulf LNG Project, involving construction of a 5 MMt/a LNG plant adjacent to its refinery in the Gulf Province of PNG. Since then, Liquid Niugini Gas Ltd has been established to build and operate the project, which will develop natural gas from the Elk and Antelope fields.

Gas from the fields will be transported to the plant via an approximately 80 km, 36 inch diameter pipeline.

In October 2011, InterOil announced it was seeking an internationally-recognised LNG operating and equity partner for the project, and had retained Morgan Stanley & Co., Macquarie Capital and UBS as joint financial advisors to assist with soliciting and evaluating proposals.

The PNG LNG Project, which involves both an onshore and offshore pipeline, is currently under construction. The project involves a two-train, 6.6 MMt/a LNG processing facility, envisaging the integrated development of the Hides, Angore and Juha gas fields, as well as associated gas from the Kutubu, Agogo, Gobe and Moran oil fields.

The onshore section of the pipeline involves 293 km of 32–34 inch diameter gas pipeline running from the Hides gas conditioning plant (HGCP) in the Southern Highlands Province to Omati, and a 108 km, 8 inch diameter condensate pipeline from the HGCP to the Kutubu central processing facility.

At the time of writing, 62 km had been welded on the onshore pipeline, and the project had recently celebrated the delivery of 100 per cent of the pipe without a safety incident.

Construction of the 407 km, 36 inch diameter offshore pipeline has also commenced, with the first lengths of pipe laid near the LNG plant at the start of November 2011.

ExxonMobil subsidiary Esso Highlands Ltd is constructing and will operate the PNG LNG Project on behalf of joint venture partners Oil Search Ltd, NPCP, Santos, JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration, Mineral Resources Development Company and Petromin PNG Holdings Ltd.