Royal Dutch Shell PLC has completed the mooring for its Prelude floating LNG (FLNG) vessel in the Browse basin offshore northwest Western Australia.
The 16 mooring chains had been positioned on the seabed prior to the vessel’s arrival on location at the end of July. The chains were then lifted and secured to the FLNG facility. Shell says that the field hook-up and commissioning phase of the whole production system can now begin. This is expected to take 9-12 months to complete.
The Prelude FLNG vessel is 488 m long and 74 m wide. It will stay on location for 20-25 years and has been designed to withstand a category 5 cyclone.
Once on stream, the Prelude project will produce about 3.6 million tonnes/year of LNG.
Shell is operator of the development with a 67.5% interest. Partners in the project include Inpex 17.5%, Kogas 10%, and OPIC 5%.