Oz Jemena Moves Forward with Queensland Project

Australian gas infrastructure company Jemena has received a licence from Queensland government to start construction of a natural gas processing facility as part of the company’s Atlas Gas Pipeline Project (AGPP), it said February 13.

Jemena will own and operate the Atlas Gas Processing Plant and Pipeline (AGPP), connecting Senex Energy’s Atlas gas field in the Surat Basin in southeast Queensland with Jemena's Darling Downs pipeline and the Wallumbilla gas hub – the largest gas hub in the country. Jemena will invest around A$140mn (US$100mn) to build the gas plant and 60-km pipeline.

According to Jemena, the Petroleum Facility Licence from the Queensland government “is a key milestone for the project, allowing Jemena to move to the next stage of planning for the construction of the facility.”

“In the coming weeks and months we will be holding a series of information sessions in regional Queensland to discuss the project, outline job and other opportunities, and to hear directly from the community about how they would like to be involved in the project,” AGPP project director, Mark Turner, said. Construction of the AGPP is on track for first gas to flow before the end of 2019. 

February 13 announcement comes after Jemena awarded the A$22mn contract to construction company, Valmec, to build the Atlas gas compression station.

Senex in a separate statement issued February 14 welcomed the Queensland government’s award of a petroleum facility licence to Jemena.

“This decision is great news for Project Atlas and for domestic gas customers. The approval keeps Senex on schedule to deliver gas from Project Atlas by the end of 2019. Senex strongly supports the Queensland government’s far-sighted policy to introduce more natural gas into the domestic market,” said Senex CEO Ian Davies.