Through our business in Australia, QGC, we are working to extract previously untapped supplies of coal seam gas (CSG). Once an obstacle in the pursuit of coal, CSG is now the focus of exploration itself. Extracting it is a complex process, but with resources plentiful, and especially in the Surat and Bowen Basins in southern Queensland, we’re committed to meeting the challenge.

Our team at QGC realised that CSG could play a significant role in supplying the domestic natural gas market and the growing global LNG market in response to demand for cleaner energy sources. CSG requires relatively little treatment before being used in industry and households.

We are also developing the Queensland Curtis LNG Project (QCLNG) – using CSG to feed a proposed LNG terminal at Curtis Island on Australia's east coast.

With our partners, we have made one of the most significant oil discoveries this decade – Tupi. This giant discovery is located in the Santos Basin pre-salt play, 250 kilometres off the south coast of Rio de Janeiro in water approximately 2 000 metres deep. Tupi holds estimated recoverable reserves of five to eight billion barrels of oil equivalent making it the largest sub 400 metres oil discovery in the world.

We have had further discoveries in other deepwater fields in the Santos Basin, so that in total more than 3 billion barrels of oil equivalent have been added to our resource base.

In line with our strategy of developing fields as quickly and cost effectively as possible, production on Tupi began in 2009, just three years after its’ initial find.

The scale of these discoveries means we’re able to build a material long-term exploration and production business in Brazil.

With interests in over 20 UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) fields, BG Group has one of the most significant production businesses in the offshore waters of the UK. Our focus here is on hub development so we can generate maximum advantage from this mature basin’s existing infrastructure.

In Norway, we are aiming to replicate some of our successful UK exploration strategies on the other side of the median line, and to utilise our existing infrastructure to bring Norwegian gas to the UK.

• • The Jordbaer discovery in Norway is potentially an exciting new play-opener in the North Tampen area, which has the potential of some one billion barrel of gross reserves. We are planning to drill additional exploration wells in Norway in 2009 and beyond
• We have an interest in the Buzzard oil field, which was discovered in 2001. The field is one of the largest discovered in the North Sea for more than ten years
• We were behind the North Sea’s first ‘subsea to beach’ development

At BG Group, we developed the strategic opportunity presented by LNG technology into a market leading business. And now our innovation is helping to drive the development of the wider market. Our success has been based on flexible long-term supply contracts and a fleet of modern LNG ships that are able to meet the needs of a rapidly changing market. This flexible portfolio means that BG Group is able to deliver gas where and when it is most needed, capturing value for our suppliers, customers and BG Group.

• In 2008, we delivered 55 cargoes into US terminals (that’s 40% of the total LNG delivered into the USA) along with 172 cargoes to global markets
• We also shipped 8.4million tonnes of LNG to the Pacific Basin, making us the largest Atlantic Basin supplier of cargoes into the Pacific
• And we were selected by Singapore’s Energy Market Authority to source and supply Singapore on an exclusive basis with 3mpta of LNG for up to 20 years
• Natural gas and LNG are composed primarily of methane (80% - 99%) and also contain small quantities of ethane, propane and heavier hydrocarbons, as well as other minor substances

BG Group has been active in Kazakhstan for over 15 years. We’re joint operator of the Karachaganak gas condensate field in north-west Kazakhstan and we’re a shareholder in the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC). The CPC pipeline links resources in western Kazakhstan to the Black Sea, providing access to world markets.

The size of the Karachaganak field presents us with huge challenges, such as extreme climate swings (+/- 40 degrees centigrade) as well as the need to re-inject high pressure sour gas. But the Karachaganak field holds estimated hydrocarbons initially in place of 9 billion barrels of condensate and 48 trillion cubic feet of gas, with estimated gross reserves of over 2.4 billion barrels of condensate and 16 trillion cubic feet of gas making it one of the largest gas condensate fields in the world.