Australian oil and gas sector receives major vote of confidence with two new projects announced

Australia’s oil and gas service and supply sector has received a major boost with news that more than $2 billion in new project work is set to go ahead.

Leading CSG developer QGC Pty Limited has described a decision to proceed with a $1.7 billion gas project in Queensland as a “vote of confidence” in the industry.

The decision to proceed with the massive investment, follows receipt of Commonwealth and State Government environmental approvals, and the financial approved of BG Group and the joint venture partners. QGC has a 73.75% interest in the relevant natural gas tenements.

The $1.7 billion development of QGC’s natural gas tenements west of Wandoan is known as Charlie, involves the construction of 300 to 400 wells, a large field compression station and associated pipelines and facilities which will feed into existing gas processing and water infrastructure at Woleebee Creek.

The Charlie project works are part of the continuous development of QGC’s tenements in the Surat Basin to sustain natural gas supply to both domestic customers and the two-train Queensland Curtis LNG (QCLNG) liquefaction plant on Curtis Island, near Gladstone.

QGC, which has appointed Leighton Contractors Pty Limited as the main works contractor, will progress development and construction immediately. Major infrastructure will be built on QGC property.

QGC Managing Director, Tony Nunan, said Charlie development will include up to 1,600 construction jobs and numerous business opportunities during the two-year project.”

Meanwhile, to the north, the Northern Territory Government has announced a major milestone for a new project to build a massive pipeline to connect NT gas to eastern gas markets.

After a strong bidding contest for the contract to construct and operate the North East Gas Interconnector (NEGI) Pipeline, Jemena Northern Gas Pipeline Pty Ltd has been named as the winner.

The pipeline will cost $800 million to construct and will run for 622 km between Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory and Mount Isa in Queensland.

The pipeline connects the ever-increasing energy needs of the east coast with the vast gas reserves in the Territory. It is estimated the Territory has more than 200 trillion cubic feet of gas – potentially enough to power Australia for more than 200 years.

Construction of the NEGI will create more than 900 jobs during construction. There will be ongoing maintenance and operations teams based in Tennant Creek and Mt Isa.

Construction of the 14 inch pipeline is expected to be completed by 2018.

These two projects are a positive sign that there are many new opportunities for the Australian service and supply sector, with thousands of new jobs becoming available, particularly in LNG related projects.

These types of opportunities will be a major focus at AOG 2016, in particular at “AMMA’s Oil & Gas Employment Outlook Breakfast” on Wednesday the 24th of February and the “Service and Supply Opportunities in LNG Projects and Operations” session on Day Two of the AOG Conference.