Motorola to manage network and comms for Queensland LNG project

Motorola Solutions has been awarded the contract to manage and support network operations for Queensland Gas Corporation’s (QGC) liquefied natural gas project in southern Queensland.

The five-year, $10 million managed services contract will see Motorola manage and operate the communications network for the project’s main gas compression sites: the upstream control room in Chinchilla and, from 1 January 2015, the midstream LNG plant on Curtis Island near Gladstone.

The contract will help QGC realise safety, productivity and efficiency benefits by providing for service performance and network uptime guarantees, ensuring radio services for operations and emergency response management remain uninterrupted.

Motorola will manage all in-field wireless communications from its Network Operations Centre (NOC) in Melbourne, as well as provide support services on-site.

Motorola Solutions has been working with QGC on the deployment of the microwave and 33-site digital radio system since 2011. Late last year, Motorola Solutions announced the completion of the network. Valued at $32 million, the network is now one of the largest TETRA wireless networks in Australia.

The new managed services contract extends the partnership between the two organisations from network deployment to operations. The contract includes performance and network uptime guarantees, and support for both traditional and intrinsically safe TETRA radio devices, to optimise safety, productivity and emergency response management in the field.

The contract additionally includes a managed location service that monitors the location of all employees and contractors on-site to enable safer working conditions, in line with QGC’s strict policies regarding workplace safety.

The microwave and TETRA digital radio system provides wide area communications, linking its principal central processing plants in the gas fields to its field compression stations, main line valve stations, its Chinchilla upstream control room/office and logistics facility as well as its corporate office in Brisbane.

The microwave and TETRA telecommunications infrastructure includes vehicle terminals with GPS tracking, handheld terminals, desk terminals, dispatcher consoles and voice recording facility. To date, more than 2000 devices have been deployed for staff on the ground.

The backbone microwave network is currently supporting CCTV cameras in remote areas, as well as operational functions such as telemetry, email, telephony and printing.

QGC’s liquefied natural gas project is one of Australia’s largest capital infrastructure projects, involving expanding exploration and development in southern and central Queensland, and transporting gas through a 540-kilometre underground pipeline network to Curtis Island, near Gladstone, where it will be liquefied for export by tanker.