Australia Pacific LNG announced it had reached a significant milestone with the successful start-up of the first of seven gas turbine power generators, designed to provide electrical power to the Curtis Island LNG facility.

While the majority of the natural gas arriving at the LNG facility will be processed and exported as liquefied natural gas (LNG), a small amount will be used to power the gas turbine generators to generate the electrical power required to operate the two LNG processing trains.

Australia Pacific LNG CEO, Page Maxson, said the successful start-up of the first turbine was another achievement for the business, following on from the completion of the pipeline and first gas arriving at the LNG Facility earlier this year.

“The complexity and scale of this accomplishment is significant and required the completion of key safety and operating systems.

“Over the coming months, we will progressively test and start additional critical elements of the processing trains to bring the LNG facility on line and ready for first LNG export,” Mr Maxson said.

Each of the seven gas turbine generators, constructed by Bechtel, will produce a peak output of approximately 15 megawatts (MW) and combined will deliver 105 MW.

Bechtel Gladstone General Manager Kevin Berg said: “The Bechtel team on site is progressively completing the commissioning work on the remaining components of the first train and in parallel, constructing and commissioning the second train so we can deliver the plant to the permanent operations team to move into full LNG production.

“Bringing gas onto site is not only important from a progress perspective, but is also very important from a safety perspective. We have placed a lot of effort into training everyone on site to be familiar with the additional safety measures and to understand the safety systems that have been introduced.”

About Australia Pacific LNG

Australia Pacific LNG Pty Limited is an incorporated joint venture between Origin Energy Limited (37.5%), ConocoPhillips (37.5%) and Sinopec (25%). The Australia Pacific LNG project includes the development of Australia Pacific LNG's substantial coal seam gas resources in the Surat and Bowen Basins, a 530 km transmission pipeline, and a multi-train LNG facility on Curtis Island, near Gladstone.

See the site of the Australia Pacific LNG project