John Crane will supply 96 Type 28 gas seals for first-fit applications to Siemens AG, who are providing compressors for the upstream section of the AP-LNG project in Queensland. The order also includes 216 John Crane tilting pad journal and double thrust hydrodynamic bearings.
The Australian project, which involves extracting and transporting coal seam gas for conversion into LNG, has the capacity to produce 18 million tonnes of LNG.
“That indicates the potential size of the aftermarket opportunities which will follow and those are opportunities from which John Crane is now ideally placed to benefit,” added Cox. “This project also reflects the recent upturn we have seen in first-fit projects, especially on stalled projects which are now being brought back on stream. This is creating a number of new opportunities in both the extraction and refining sectors, many of which we have been able to convert in new orders,” said Paul Cox, president of John Crane.