CSG pipes arrive in Biloela

PIPE DREAM A REALITY: The first pipes for a multi-billion-dollar coal seam gas (CSG) project arrived by train in Biloela recently.

THE first pipes for a multi-billion-dollar coal seam gas (CSG) project have arrived by train in Biloela.

Four trains have come from Gladstone with 100 pipes on each.

Eight hundred pipes will have been delivered by the end of last week, with more trains transporting pipes during this week.

The pipes will be stored at Biloela until trucked out to a lay-down area and workers' camp near Thangool, to construct the gas pipeline between Surat Basin gas fields and Gladstone.

CSG company QGC's multi-billion dollar QCLNG project will have an initial production capacity of 8.5 million tonnes of LNG a year, with export sales starting from 2014 underpinned by agreements with China, Japan, Singapore and Chile.

The project is expected to generate more than 5000 direct jobs during construction and more than 700 during operation.

The controversial 600-person workers' camp at Thangool has been an issue for residents of the area, worried Tollemaches Rd won't hold up under an onslaught of trucks.

Construction of the camps at Thangool and Cracow was delayed for several months when QGC stopped work on its pipeline because some environmental plans had not received final approval.

A representative for QGC told Central Telegraph construction of the camps at Cracow and Thangool was now in progress and both were scheduled to be ready for occupation later this year.

“Planning is for workers to begin living at the camp and start work on the pipeline from October,” the representative said.

The camps are constructed to accommodate up to 600 people; however, this will only be at the peak of construction, the representative pointed out.

“When this will happen depends upon the progress of work.”

Survey works for the pipeline are also expected to begin this week.