Gladstone's $16bn project will start LNG exports in 2015

A $16bn Gladstone LNG (GLNG) project in Australia's Queensland state is set to trigger major works for upstream field and pipeline development, with LNG exports targeted to commence in 2015. The GLNG project was formally approved on Thursday. The project is a joint venture between Santos (30%) and three of the world's biggest LNG companies - Petronas (27.5%), Total (27.5%) and Kogas (15%). Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said the project would reinforce Queensland's role as a significant producer of LNG, promising billions of dollars of investment in regional communities and the creation of 6,000 jobs. The project includes the development of coal seam gas resources in the Bowen and Surat Basins in southeast Queensland, construction of a 420km gas transmission pipeline from the gas fields to Gladstone, and two LNG trains with a combined nameplate capacity of 7.8m tonnes a year on Curtis Island. GLNG has binding LNG sales agreements with Petronas and Kogas for 7m tonnes a year in aggregate.