Innovation in wharf design for Gladstone LNG projects Friday, 06 November 2015

Members from the Gladstone region were fortunate enough to have seen the innovative solutions to Gladstone Harbour's seafloor conditions first hand. They were fortunate to have two site tours of three local liquefied national gas (LNG) sites during their construction phase, courtesy of Bechtel.

Three projects are expected to be fully operational by the end of the year and will convert coal seam gas from the mainland into LNG for export:

  1. Gladstone LNG project (GLNG), led by Santos in partnership with Petronas, Total and Kogas;
  2. Queensland Curtis LNG project (QCLNG), being managed by BG Group and China National Offshore Oil Corporation; and
  3. Australia Pacific LNG project, a joint venture between Origin Energy, ConocoPhillips and Sinopec.

Mr Mark Porter MIEAust CPEng, Chair of the Engineers Australia Gladstone Regional Group said “One of the tours was a held as a highlight of the 2014 EA Regional Engineering Conference in Gladstone. The site tours provided members with detailed explanations of the plant design and the wharf structures.”

“Local Engineers Australia members have also recently had the opportunity to inspect the new tugs manufactured especially for the Gladstone LNG ships and to tour the MSQ operations centre the controls all ship movements in Gladstone Harbour,” he added.

Engineers Australia’s Gladstone Regional Group has observed the development of these projects over the years and Mr Porter agreed that innovation has had a significant role to play in their success.

“The seafloor conditions in the area of the LNG wharves and the size of the ships involved provided the designers and constructors with significant challenges which have been overcome in a novel way. The majority of other wharf and dolphin structures in the Gladstone Harbour use raking piles to resist the lateral forces involved,” said Mr Porter.

The construction of mooring ‘dolphins’ which can then cope with forces distributed by massive vessels has been an interesting challenge for engineers in Queensland.

Members can read further insights on the Gladstone LNG innovations in the October 2015 edition of Engineers Australia’s create magazine.