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A new liquefied natural gas (LNG) processing plant in southern Queensland has opened, becoming the first to fuel the local mining and manufacturing sectors.
The BOC plant in Chinchilla is based in the heart of the state's burgeoning Surat gas field and will produce up to 50 tonnes of LNG per day for the domestic market.
It will produce up to 50 tonnes of LNG per day into the domestic market, which is the equivalent of 70,000 litres of conventional diesel per day.
Premier Campbell Newman opened the plant, heralding the moment as the beginning of a new era for cleaner fuel.
"If just a fraction of our trucking firms, mines and farms switched to domestically produced fuels, we would see more jobs and lower emissions," he said.
"Instead of just exporting those reserves I want Queenslanders to find new ways of developing cleaner and greener fuels."
This plant marks the start of a new industry for Queensland.
BOC South Pacific Managing Director Colin Isaac
The total spend for the gas, micro‐LNG plant and supply chain infrastructure by BOC will be over $200 million over 15 years.
BOC South Pacific managing director Colin Isaac said LNG produced up to 25 per cent fewer emissions than diesel.
"This plant marks the start of a new industry for Queensland giving local and interstate manufacturing off-grid electricity generation and heavy transport users the opportunity to switch to LNG," Mr Isaac said.
The plant will use natural gas fed into the Roma–Brisbane pipeline by QGC.
It is the same gas Queenslanders use every day for a variety of industrial purposes and to cook meals and heat their homes.
BOC liquefies the natural gas in a refrigeration process and the resulting LNG will be transported in specially designed vacuum tankers to customers and a network of refuelling stations from Queensland to Victoria.
