There won’t be any gas stored onshore at Port Kembla as part of the planned gas terminal.
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In fact, all of it will be held on a purpose-made vessel docked offshore.
The technical name for that vessel is a Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU) and Norwegian company Hoegh LNG will supply them for the Port Kembla terminal.
James Baulderstone is the CEO of Australian Industrial Energy, the consortium behind the Port Kembla gas terminal.
He said the sourcing of FSRUs meant AIE remained “on schedule to deliver gas to our industrial customers during early 2020”.
Mr Baulderstone said terminals were increasingly using FSRUs rather than onshore facilities. This was for two reasons for this – it’s quicker and cheaper.
“They have a number of significant advantages over onshore storage,” Mr Baulderstone said.
“They are quicker to put in place; we can have gas being ready to flow within 18 months whereas onshore storage would probably take twice as long to have ready.
“They are also much cheaper to have operational, they’re more flexible and have all the state-of-the-art technology installed.”
A berth will be dug alongside the terminal site at Port Kembla – opposite the steelworks – in which the FSRU will be moored.
This means an LPG tanker pulling up alongside the unit will not take up any more harbour space than the ships docked at other berths at Port Kembla.
“We’re working with the harbour master and the port authority now to do that fine design,” Mr Baulderstone said.
“We’ve got simulation studies ongoing to make sure that our vessel is located in the right area and doesn’t interfere with any other operations of the port.”
There have been concerns about the risk of gas exploding in the harbour, but Mr Baulderstone said it was cooled to below minus-160 degrees to get into into liquid form.
“It’s not flammable at that state; you can throw a match into it, put a burner on it, it can’t explode in its liquid form,” he said.
“Also because it’s in its liquid form it’s not transported under any pressure.”
The FSRU will return the LNG to its gaseous state just before it enters the onshore pipeline.
Glen Humphries
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
