Australia’s QPM increases gas output at Moranbah

Australia's QPM Energy has increased output from its onshore Moranbah project in Queensland's Bowen basin by 18pc since taking ownership because of well workovers and new supplies.

Gas supplies are averaging about 27 TJ/d (720,000 m³/d), up from 22.9 TJ/d when QPM - the gas subsidiary of Australian battery metals refiner Queensland Pacific Metals (QPM) - took over the project in August because of improvements increasing well availability. Another seven non-producing wells have been reworked, the firm said on 28 November.

Installation of five new tie-in points to collect waste mine gas from UK-South African mining group Anglo American's Moranbah North and Grosvenor underground coking coal mines has also been completed, with increased gas flows expected at Moranbah as the new wells are brought on line in the next six months.

The 242MW gas-fired Townsville Power Station has increased its runtime because of the additional supplies, producing 12,552MWh in the month to 27 November, up from 6,621MWh for all of September.

QPM intends to use Moranbah, an established coal mine waste gas project with 240PJ (6.4bn m³) of proven and probable reserves and processing capacity of 30 PJ/yr, to further supply its proposed Townsville Energy Chemicals Hub (TECH). Gas will reach TECH near Townsville through the underutilised 35 PJ/yr North Queensland gas pipeline, which links the industrial city with the northern Bowen basin coal fields.

TECH will produce chemicals for lithium-ion batteries and electric vehicles with a nameplate capacity of 16,000 t/yr of cathode-grade nickel and 1,750 t/yr of cobalt sulphates, with testing underway.

The TECH Project will use about 13 PJ/yr at full production, QPM has said.

QPM acquired Moranbah from Australian upstream venture Arrow Energy and utility AGL Energy earlier this year, aiming to increase the 10 PJ/yr production by another 2-3 PJ/yr within six months.

QPM has a gas sales agreement with Dyno Nobel, a wholly owned subsidiary of Australian fertilizer and industrial chemicals group Incitec Pivot, to continue supplying gas of up to 7.1PJ/yr for seven years from Moranbah commencing in April 2026.

The firm's Northern hub waste gas project, located north of Moranbah and designed to boost waste gas production received initial federal environmental approvals in September.

By Tom Major

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