PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Natural gas explorer and producer QGC and its joint venture (JV) partners China National Offshore Oil Corporation and Tokyo Gas have announced a A$1.7-billion development of the Charlie natural gas tenements west of Wandoan, in Queensland.

QGC’s parent company BG Group took the decision to proceed with the investment after receiving both Commonwealth and state government environmental approvals.

The development would involve the construction of 300 to 400 wells, a large field compression station and associated pipelines and facilities that would feed into existing gas processing and water infrastructure at Woleebee Creek.

The works were 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 liquefied natural gas (QCLNG) liquefaction plant on Curtis Island, near Gladstone.

QGC, which has appointed Leighton Contractors as the main works contractor, would progress development and construction immediately, with major infrastructure to be built on QGC property.

QGC MD Tony Nunan said this was an important investment in the future of the company’s operations and built on the success of the world-first production of LNG from coal seams in the past year.

The QCLNG plant has delivered 62 cargoes since first LNG production in December 2014. At plateau production, expected during 2016, QCLNG would have an output of around eight-million tonnes a year of LNG.

“This is a vote of confidence in the secure, long-term future of Queensland’s natural gas industry, which will employ Queenslanders for many years to come,” Nunan said.

“The Charlie development will help to sustain the benefits of our investment in local communities and the state, including up to 1 600 construction jobs and business opportunities during the two-year project.”

The Queensland Resources Council (QRC) said on Monday the development of the Charlie tenements was a major investment in the future of Queensland’s natural gas sector, which had been a major creator of jobs and a generator of economic benefits.

“The fact that the QGC's Charlie project will create up to 1 600 construction jobs and provide other major business benefits for communities around Taroom, Wandoan and Chinchilla, is proof of the gas sector's ongoing vital importance to the Queensland and Australian economies,” QRC CEO Michael Roche said on Monday.

“Queensland has led the way in developing a world-class natural gas industry and the announcement of another major development is testament to the confidence that proponents have in the industry.”

Roche pointed out that the Queensland natural gas sector currently supported more than 114 000 Queensland jobs and 3 600 businesses and accounted for 7% of the entire Queensland economy.