Prelude FLNG plans advanced

Rick Wilkinson
OGJ Correspondent

MELBOURNE, Mar. 10 -- Royal Dutch Shell PLC has signed two contracts with Technip and Samsung Heavy Industries related to the company’s plans to establish a floating LNG (FLNG) facility at Prelude field in the Browse basin off Western Australia.

The first contract relates to front-end engineering and design aspects of the Prelude project taking into account the composition of gas, local weather conditions, and other site-specific parameters.

The second contract details the terms under which the FLNG facility will be built, if and when a final investment decision is made for the project.

The two contracts follow a master agreement signed in July 2009 between Shell and the Technip-Samsung joint venture to work on the design, construction, and installation of multiple FLNGs over a 15-year period.

Prelude has estimated reserves of 2.5-3 tcf of gas and 120 million bbl of condensate. Nearby Concerto field, which is likely to be tied into the development, has not been allocated an official reserves figure. Both fields lie in permit WA-371-P.

The Prelude FLNG development is earmarked to produce 3.5 million tonnes/year of LNG. A final investment decision is scheduled for early 2011, from which point it is expected to take 5 years for the FLNG vessel to be built in Korea and towed to the field located 475 km north-northeast of Broome.

Production would begin from eight subsea wells tied back to subsea manifolds and connected to the FLNG via flowlines. If all goes to plan, first gas production should begin in 2016.