While 2015 is shaping up to be a tough year for the oil and gas business, the slump in market conditions isn’t expected to take the shine away from Australia’s next big industry development, with Santos revealing its massive US$18.5 billion GLNG project is a mere two months away from first gas.

Addressing attendees at the DUG Australia event in Brisbane on July 29, Santos vice president for Queensland Trevor Brown used his keynote address to laud the progress and achievements of the state’s $80 billion CSG-LNG sector and provided an update on the imminent start-up of GLNG.

The Santos-operated GLNG project, which counts Petronas, Total and Kogas as joint venture partners, is tipped to be the second project to commercialize CSG to LNG in Queensland, behind the BG Group-led QCLNG project.

Brown, a geologist by trade, said no one should underestimate the large scale nature of the developments and the amount of time and investment that has been committed.

“These projects are the culmination of a lot of ambition, a lot of strategic thinking, a lot of bold risk taking decisions, a lot of careful planning and an extraordinary amount of hard work by an extraordinary number of people,” he said.

A bullish Brown didn’t ignore the elephant in the room, telling a 250-strong crowd that low oil prices were nothing new for him and would not impact GLNG over the long-term.

“I’ve been in this industry 30 years and it’s about the sixth time there has been an oil price shock or big price correction,” he said. “My view is that it’s [low oil price] really good for the industry. It forces us to focus on the fundamentals and it’s really good for the long term sustainability of our business.

“Regardless of the fact that the oil price is miserably low in recent terms, we stand here on something that we should look decades ahead on when we’re assessing the significance of [CSG-LNG] projects,” he continued. “For decades to come, there will be revenue streams coming through to these projects.”

Brown said the years of investment-heavy construction, development and commissioning were culminating to a big crescendo for Queensland’s CSG industry, with as little as eight weeks left on the timetable before all three CSG-LNG developments are up and running.

Brown then went on to address speculation and industry chatter about supposed competition between the start-up dates of GLNG and the APLNG joint venture, led by Origin Energy and ConocoPhillips.

“Let me state that this is not a race,” he said. “It matters not to me who comes first, second and third in terms of getting first cargo. What’s really important to me is that we maintain and operate a safe, reliable and efficient business and as a nation develop a clear reputation as a safe and reliable supplier of LNG to global markets.”

With the construction and commissioning phase of GLNG, located on Queensland’s Curtis Island, drawing to a close, Brown said the final stage of the project would be like landing a jumbo jet.

“We are roughly two months away on our project from our first LNG being produced and we’re on final approach, our wheels are down, and there’s very little we can do at this point apart from hang on and hope that the landing is smooth,” Brown said.

“It will be a very proud moment for our company to be involved in such a world scale project when we get the first cargo out.”

While some assume first gas will mark the completion of the project, Brown said the operational phase, which will include operating the CSG fields in the most efficient and optimal way, would bring with it new challenges.

Challenges do come with rewards, and for Santos, GLNG will have many. Brown highlighted the fact that Santos will be delivering 11% of Korea’s gas needs in the 20 years, and 9% of Malaysia’s, once GLNG hits full production.

While there is much to look forward to, it’s clear the last few years have left its mark on Brown.

“I think this has been one of the most challenging, stimulating and interesting periods of my career,” he said.

Lauren Barrett can be reached at lbarrett@hartenergy.com.

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