BG Group has been loading the first cargo of LNG from its Queensland Curtis LNG (QCLNG) facility since Dec. 28, according to a news release.

The vessel being loaded is the Methane Rita Andrea. The second cargo of LNG from the facility will be loaded onto the Methane Mickie Harper, which is expected in Gladstone in the first week of January, the release said.

QCLNG is the world's first LNG project to be supplied by coalseam gas. The start of production from the plant's first LNG train is the result of more than four years of development and construction on Curtis Island, BG Group said in the release.

The project will expand further with the start-up of the second train in third-quarter 2015. At plateau production, expected during 2016, QCLNG will have an output of around 8 million tonnes of LNG a year, the release said.