ABB expands in Queensland to support LNG developments

ABB has announced the opening of a new facility dedicated to supporting companies involved with developing the oil and gas sector in Queensland.

Speaking at the opening of the new facility in Eagle Farm held on 4 March 2010, John Gaskell, country manager for ABB Australia, welcomed local government officials, customers and engineering group representatives. He then explained the company's strategy towards strengthening its oil and gas engineering capability and presence in the area.

“ABB are fully committed to the region and currently working on systems engineering and front-end design for the CSM industry,” said John. “This means that we are actively raising our profile within the state in response to the massive expansion potential the CSM projects, both current and proposed, offer. We are very supportive of the development of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) sector in Queensland, as the industry is looking to capitalise on the global trend towards more environmentally friendly fuels. This fits nicely with ABB’s mission of helping customers improve their operating performance and productivity while saving energy and lowering environmental impact in a sustainable way.”

CSM - also called coal bed methane - provides a means of extracting natural gas from coal seams without the environmentally costly mining requirements. This gas is turned into its liquefied form and sold throughout the world. CSM is set to be a major revenue generator in the Queensland area for the next 20 to 30 years after massive resources were found in over 400 square kilometres of the Surat Basin region, located south of Brisbane. It has been widely reported that this region has the potential to make the state of Queensland a major league provider of LNG.

Invest Queensland Manager Mark Paddenburg welcomed ABB’s expansion to Queensland as the company is a major player in the CSG and LNG supply chain.

“This is a great show of faith in the Queensland economy, the growing LNG sector and demonstrates that Brisbane is truly becoming a global energy and mining services hub for the Asia-Pacific region,” he said.

“With the new ABB oil and gas facility, the company plan to expand their staff in Queensland from 280 to over 300 staff by the end of the year in areas from skilled engineers and project managers through to technicians, support staff and trainees.

“This will add to its facilities at Darra and Eagle Farm where the company is already manufacturing power and transformer products for large-scale power generation and distribution projects.”

Paddenburg said The Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation had been working closely with ABB since November 2009, when the company began exploring expansion opportunities in the oil and gas sector.

ABB’s local representative, Brett Radford, highlights the benefits a company the size of ABB brings to the development of these projects: “ABB, with its global reach and experience, has been involved in the execution of some of the largest automation and electrical projects in the world. While we are more commonly known worldwide for our technology and engineering capability, we are also recognised for our experience setting up the necessary local infrastructure to support large projects.”

Radford explained further: “ABB were very successful in providing similar infrastructure for oil and gas projects in the Caspian region which was, at the time, one of the world’s largest projects. One of these projects spanned three countries and provided facilities which could be seen from space. Upon completion and after providing extensive support and training, ABB were able to hand over the long-term support of this project to the local engineering teams.

“We see a similar opportunity in Australia, and we are currently in discussions with local and regional industry leaders and government officials, as we believe it is extremely important to engage with all groups to begin to build the infrastructure around such large projects. In addition, our ongoing discussions with local universities and technical groups are encouraging - this is all part of our ongoing process of looking for the next generation of engineers to ensure the long-term success of these massive projects.”