British energy giant BG Group will spend more than $15 billion on developing a liquefied natural gas plant at Gladstone.
BG’s decision and announcement means the first of up to 5,000 workers involved in the overall project is expected to be on the ground at Curtis Island.
Premier Anna Bligh said she was now confident that Queensland was about to give birth to a new industry based on coal seam gas.
Queensland will host the world’s first LNG development based on coal seam gas and will allow Queensland to rival the North West Shelf Project in Western Australia as one of the world’s leading gas suppliers.
The BG Group project is expected to add $32 billion to Queensland’s economy over next 10 years and will benefit local council regions based on Gladstone, Banana, North Burnett and the Western Downs.
It will add nearly 10 per cent, or about $4 billion a year, to the value of Queensland’s annual exports.
Queensland has developed a regulatory regime that would effectively control and also support for the coal seam gas and LNG industries.
On 22 October 2010, BG Group got final regulatory approval for its project when Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke imposed more than 300 conditions on the development in addition to the 1,200 imposed by Queensland.
A 540km pipeline – the biggest to be laid in Australia – will run from the Surat Basin gas fields around Chinchilla to Gladstone. First LNG shipments are due in 2014.