In its quarterly report, QGC said it was confident its $8 billion liquefied natural gas joint venture - dubbed Queensland Curtis LNG - with BG would be completed sooner and with increased capacity if BG's offer for Origin succeeded.

The comment appears to validate some reports that BG may use gas from Origin's coal seam methane fields to feed a second train at the project.

QGC and BG are planning to build a 3-4 million tonne per annum LNG plant at Curtis Island, near Gladstone on the Queensland coast that will use 190 petajoules per year from QGC's CSM tenements in the Surat Basin.

But QGC has not yet proved up all the gas required for the plant. By buying Origin, BG Group would be guaranteeing it had enough gas for the first train at Queensland Curtis LNG, even if there were unforeseen problems in QGC's development drilling.

BG will buy and market all LNG produced by the plant and may have also found a customer for the LNG after beating Woodside and various Qatari suppliers to win a contract to supply Singapore's first LNG terminal.

Under this 20-year contract, BG will have an exclusive licence to import up to 3 million tonnes of LNG per annum into Singapore from early 2012.

Pending a final investment decision due in 2010, QGC and BG anticipate the first shipment of LNG from their project in 2013. Export of LNG is expected to continue until at least 2033.