Wesfarmers’ liquified natural gas business, EVOL LNG, earlier this month announced that its Kwinana LNG production facility will undergo a major expansion with a 40% increase in production capacity by April 2020. The move is driven by growing demand from the mining sector to replace the use of diesel for power generation with a cleaner and more cost-effective natural gas solution. EVOL LNG currently has agreements in place with seven mining customers in the Goldfields and Mid-West regions of Western Australia and operates a growing fleet of over 30 road tankers to service its customers’ requirements.

EVOL LNG is Australia’s leading provider of liquified natural gas for transport, power generation and industrial applications, and is managed within the Kleenheat business. The Kwinana LNG plant, constructed in 2008 with a nameplate capacity of 175 t per day, will increase its capacity to 250 t per day from April 2020, with plans for a further potential expansion to approximately 300 t per day in 2021.

The newest addition to EVOL LNG’s growing mining customer base is Adaman Resources’ Kirkalocka Gold Mine. It is anticipated that Adaman Resources will save more than A$2 million per year and reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by fuelling the mine’s power station with LNG instead of diesel. EVOL LNG’s Manager LNG and Wholesale Nick Rea said the business was well positioned to make the most of a number of new growth opportunities in the pipeline. “Our expertise in small-scale LNG and proven capability to deliver lower cost and cleaner LNG is enabling off-grid mines to move away from diesel. We are in advanced negotiations with several parties, and our confidence in future growth prospects has enabled us to commit to the first stage expansion, with Front End Engineering Design (FEED) underway for the second stage expansion. We are fortunate that the Kwinana plant can be expanded with relatively minor investment in a manageable, staged process as demand grows.”