Jacobs to study BG proposal in Australia to convert coal seam gas to LNG

Jacobs Engineering Group was awarded a contract from QGC, part of BG Group, for a coal seam gas (CSG) to liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Australia, officials said on Tuesday.

The companies did not disclose the contract value, but noted that the services are being provided from Jacobs’ offices in Brisbane, Australia, and Denver, Colorado. This should enable QGC to leverage the substantial experience that Jacobs has gained in the US CSG market, according to company officials.

Under the terms of the contract, Jacobs is performing concept study and pre-FEED (front-end engineering and design) activities to support further development of the upstream portion of the project. 

Jacobs’ scope of work includes the production well pads that produce and separate gas and water; the gathering systems that transport the produced fluids; and the field compressor stations that form part of the transport system carrying the produced gas to the LNG production facilities.

These facilities are designed to connect into the existing infrastructure that transports the CSG to QGC’s LNG plant located on Curtis Island, near Gladstone in Queensland. 

The Queensland Curtis LNG project is anticipated to be the world's first project to convert CSG into LNG, and to provide cleaner hydrocarbon energy for export markets from 2014.

"We are very pleased to be working again with QGC, and to be a part of one of Australia's largest capital infrastructure projects," said Jacobs vice president Tom Quinn. "We look forward to combining our global CSG experience with our Australian project delivery capability to support QGC in achieving their strategic objectives for this critical project."