Integrated natural gas company, BG Group on Sunday announced it will commit 15 billion U.S. dollars investment for the first phase of its massive Curtis liquid natural gas (LNG) project in Queensland state of Australia.
During a conference hold by BG’s Australian head Catherine Tanna, the company has approved to spend 15 billion U.S. dollars over the next four years developing two LNG trains with a combined capacity of 8.5 million tons per annum.
The Queensland’s Curtis LNG Project involves building a liquefied natural gas plant at Gladstone, a 450 km underground pipeline network, and expanding production in gas fields in the Surat Basin around Chinchilla in south west Queensland.
BG plans to start shipping LNG to customers in Chile, China, Japan and Singapore from 2014.
According to Tanna, the project will increase economic activity in Queensland by 32 billion dollars (31.4 billion U.S. dollars) between 2010 to 2021, and will add nearly 10 percent to the value of Queensland’s annual exports.
“We also expect to pay about one billion dollars (0.98 billion U.S. dollars) a year in federal taxes and a further 300 million dollars (294 million U.S. dollars) or so each year in royalties to the Queensland government,” Tanna told Australia Associated Press on Sunday.
The project will create an estimated 5,000 jobs during construction and nearly 1,000 when the plant is operating.
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh welcomed BG Group’s announcement.
“So, the last hurdle has been crossed. We now have a Queensland liquid natural gas project,”Bligh said on Sunday, adding “It’s terrific.”
&$&$Source:Xinhua&$&$
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BG Group announces $15 bln investment for LNG project in Australia
China’s economy during the past 30 years has changed from a centrally planned system that was largely closed to international trade to a more market-oriented economy that has a rapidly growing private sector and is a major player in the global economy.
In 2006, China announced that by 2010 it would decrease energy intensity 20% from 2005 levels.
China is also the second largest trading nation in the world and the largest exporter and second largest importer of goods.
The PRC government’s decision to permit China to be used by multinational corporations as an export platform has made the country a major competitor to other Asian export-led economies, such as South Korea, Singapore, and Malaysia.
The restructuring of the economy and resulting efficiency gains have contributed to a more than tenfold increase in GDP since 1978.
Agricultural output has been vulnerable to the effects of weather, while industry has been more directly influenced by the government.
China has acquired some highly sophisticated production facilities through trade and also has built a number of advanced engineering plants capable of manufacturing an increasing range of sophisticated equipment, including nuclear weapons and satellites, but most of its industrial output still comes from relatively ill-equipped factories.
China’s increasing integration with the international economy and its growing efforts to use market forces to govern the domestic allocation of goods have exacerbated this problem.
On top of this, foreign direct investment (FDI) this year was set to “surpass $100 billion”, compared to $90 billion last year, ministry officials predicted.
” Although the figure is already “quite amazing,” the volume is “not large enough” considering China’s economic growth and local companies’ expanding demand for international opportunities, Shen said.
China is aiming to be the world’s largest new energy vehicle market by 2020 with 5 million cars.
Although China is still a developing country with a relatively low per capita income, it has experienced tremendous economic growth since the late 1970s.
Despite initial gains in farmers’ incomes in the early 1980s, taxes and fees have increasingly made farming an unprofitable occupation, and because the state owns all land farmers have at times been easily evicted when croplands are sought by developers.
In terms of cash crops, China ranks first in cotton and tobacco and is an important producer of oilseeds, silk, tea, ramie, jute, hemp, sugarcane, and sugar beets.
China ranks first in world production of red meat (including beef, veal, mutton, lamb, and pork).
There are also extensive iron-ore deposits; the largest mines are at Anshan and Benxi, in Liaoning province.
China is among the world’s four top producers of antimony, magnesium, tin, tungsten, and zinc, and ranks second (after the United States) in the production of salt, sixth in gold, and eighth in lead ore.
Hydroelectric projects exist in provinces served by major rivers where near-surface coal is not abundant.
Although a British crown colony until its return to Chinese control in 1997, Hong Kong has long been a major maritime outlet of S China.
Rivers and canals (notably the Grand Canal, which connects the Huang He and the Chang rivers) remain important transportation arteries.
