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Newcastle FSRU is a shelved Floating Storage Regasification Unit (FSRU) in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.[1]
Location
Project Details
- Owner: Newcastle GasDock Company[2]
- Parent company: EPIK (100%)[2]
- Location: Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia
- Coordinates: -32.916667, 151.75 (approximate)
- Capacity: 1 mtpa
- Status: Shelved[1]
- Type: Import
- Cost: AUD$589 million[3]
- Start year: 2022
Note: mtpa = million tonnes per year; bcfd = billion cubic feet per day
Background
Newcastle FSRU was initially a proposed export LNG terminal in New South Wales, Australia.[4]
In 2010 Eastern Star proposed the LNG facility, but to export coal-seam gas from its Narrabri project.[5] The Narrabri gas project is the last existing coal seam gas project in New South Wales.[6]
The project was cancelled in 2016, but some elected leaders as Labor's Joel Fitzgibbon are still pushing for an import terminal in the Port of Newcastle.[5]
In December 2018 South Korean company EPIK proposed an A$500 million LNG import facility at Newcastle.[7] In April 2019 EPIK contracted with Australian firm Watpac to build the terminal as an FSRU.[8] The FSRU will cost an estimated A$589 million.[3] EPIK expects to reach final investment decision (FID) on the project in mid-2020.[9]
In May 2021, EPIK signed a Project Development Option Agreement with the Port of Newcastle.[10]
In February 2023, EPIK shelved plans for the project. EPIK told the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission that the “volatility in the international LNG market and high LNG benchmark pricing” had “placed downward pressure on the economics of the project”.[1]
As of May 2024, there were no new updates regarding this project and it was still shelved.
Australia's Coal Seam Environmental Concerns
In December 2014, Queensland Curtis LNG became the world's first project to turn coal seam gas into LNG for export. Curtis Island's two other LNG plants, Queensland Curtis LNG Terminal and Gladstone LNG Terminal also convert coal seam gas into LNG.[11]
Coal seam gas projects in Australia are not without controversy. Coal seam gas (abbreviated "CSG") is formed by the geological process of heating and compressing plant matter to create coal. Over millions of years, methane forms within the coal. The methane is trapped by water in the gaps and cracks between the coal molecules. These gaps are known as cleats. Australia has been found to have many deposits, and is increasingly mining them through hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking.[12]
CSG is a form of coalbed methane (CBM), or coalbed gas, and is a type of natural gas extracted from coal beds. In recent decades it has become an increasingly used source of energy in Australia, as well as the United States, Canada, and other countries.[12]
Australian green groups and farmers have raised concerns about coal seam gas development. In May 2010 four toxic chemicals - benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene (BTEX) - were discovered in eight exploration wells owned by the Australia Pacific LNG Terminal in the Surat Basin. But the Queensland Government has ruled out a moratorium on the industry.[13]
Articles and resources
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Esmarie Iannucci. "Plug pulled on LNG import terminal in NSW". Mining Weekly. Retrieved 2023-07-20.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Newcastle GasDock - Bringing New Energy to New South Wales. EPIK. Accessed May 2022.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Craig Guthrie, Australian emission plans will fuel expansion of gas-to-power, Petroleum Economist, Feb. 16, 2020
- ↑ Newcastle LNG Terminal, A Barrel Full, accessed April 2017
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Ian Kirkwood, "Fitzgibbon calls for Newcastle gas import terminal," Newcastle Herald, March 1, 2017.
- ↑ Gabrielle Chan, " The Guardian, May 22, 2017.
- ↑ Newcastle port could be home to $500 million gas import terminal, Sydney Morning Herald, Dec. 5, 2018
- ↑ EPIK Inks Engineering Deal for Newcastle LNG Terminal, World Maritime News, Apr. 8, 2019
- ↑ John Snyder, With FID in 2020, Australian LNG import project adds financial advisor, Riviera, Nov. 6, 2019
- ↑ "EPIK signs agreement with Port of Newcastle to develop "Newcastle LNG" FSRU Import Terminal". gasprocessingnews.com. Retrieved 2022-05-24.
- ↑ Zara Margolis and Cassandra Hough, "Queensland company to be first in the world to export LNG from coal seam gas," ABC, December 23, 2014.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Jargon Buster". BG Group. Retrieved 18 July 2010.
- ↑ "Federal Government approves coal seam gas projects in central Queensland" news.com.au, Oct. 22, 2010.
