Santos proposes multi-billion dollar Gladstone LNG Project

Santos yesterday announced a proposal to construct a liquefied natural gas facility....

  Santos yesterday announced a proposal to construct a liquefied natural gas facility at Gladstone in Queensland, which would see coal seam gas processed and sold into export markets.The proposed Gladstone LNG project is for a three to four million tonnes per annum LNG processing train and associated infrastructure, which is expected to cost a total of between A$5 billion and A$7 billion. Queensland Premier, Peter Beattie gave his support to the project, announcing the grant of significant project status. “The potential is enormous, with Santos keen to utilise Queensland’s vast reserves of coal seam gas from both the Bowen Basin and the Surat Basin before piping it to Gladstone and then liquefying it for export by ship,” Mr Beattie said. “Santos has already invested considerable time and effort in planning and developing this proposal and is the first company to apply for and be granted significant project declaration by the Coordinator-General,” he said. The announcement follows extensive feasibility and site selection studies over the past 18 months, which have culminated in an agreement with the Port of Gladstone Authority for Santos to secure a site to construct a LNG export facility on Curtis Island. Santos’ Managing Director, John Ellice-Flint said the project was significant for both Santos and Queensland, stressing the importance of the Government support with the granting of a significant project declaration by the Coordinator-General. “This is a landmark project for Santos, which will underwrite the continued growth of the coal seam gas industry in Queensland and is a major step forward in the development of a new export industry for the state,” Mr Ellice-Flint said. “Queensland has the majority of Australia’s abundant CSG resources,” he said. “Santos’ CSG reserves and contingent resources currently total over 5,000 petajoules, with significant upside potential.” Mr Ellice-Flint said conceptual engineering and preliminary financial analysis had confirmed that Gladstone LNG will generate acceptable rates of return for Santos shareholders, while providing significant benefits for Queensland in terms of employment and royalties.