Gas industry overview

Gas is a vital energy source for Queensland's industrial and manufacturing sectors. It is also used in electricity generation throughout Queensland and is a major export industry that produces liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Queensland's gas resources.

Conventional natural gas is found and produced with other petroleum products such as oil. Coal seam gas (CSG) is found and produced from the cleats and fractures of coal seams. While the location and production method are different, natural gas produced from conventional gas fields and CSG gas fields is the same product.

LNG is gas that has been cooled to the point it becomes a liquid and is able to be safely stored and transported. The process of extracting gas and converting it to LNG is commonly broken into 3 industry classifications:

• upstream: surveying, drilling, extracting, processing and compressing gas
• midstream: transporting gas from the gas fields to the LNG plant via gas pipelines
• downstream: converting the gas into a liquid for shipment and export.

Customers wishing to connect to a reticulated gas network should contact their local gas or energy retailer. The relevant retailer will be able to confirm whether gas is available to your street.

Another form of gas used in households and industry is liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). LPG is a mix of propane and butane. It is stored and transported in metal canisters (gas bottles) as a liquid. LPG is produced by collection of butane and propane produced with conventional natural gas, and also as a by-product from the oil refining process. Its most common use is as a fuel for vehicles, barbeques and stoves.

This guide provides a visual overview of the petroleum and gas supply chain (PDF, 1MB).