Rick Wilkinson
OGJ Correspondent
MELBOURNE, Oct. 8 -- Royal Dutch Shell PLC confirmed that its Australian arm will develop Prelude and Concerto gas fields in the Browse basin off Western Australia using floating LNG (FLNG) technology.
Shell said in July that the FEED phase for the project would be carried out by Technip and Samsung as part of the company’s master arrangement for the design, construction, and installation of multiple FLNG facilities over the next 15 years.
This most recent announcement comes just before the release of Shell’s draft environmental impact statement for public comment, expected next week.
Malcolm Brinded, the company’s upstream international executive director, said Sherll is excited to be progressing the FLNG technology, which he said had the potential to unlock much of Australia’s stranded gas reserves—reserves previously considered uneconomic because of their relatively small size and isolation from shore-based infrastructure.
Prelude and Concerto fields are in Permit WA-371-P, which is wholly owned by Shell. Prelude has estimated reserves of 2.5-3 tcf along with 120 million bbl of condensate. Estimates have yet to be released for Concerto.
Shell said previously that its FLNG design will be cyclone tolerant that is capable of producing 3.5 million tonnes/year of LNG. When condensate and LPG are added the facility will handle a combined liquid production of as much as 5 million tpy.
The vessel dimensions will be 450 m by 70 m.
Cost of the facility is unofficially estimated at close to $5 billion.
Rendering from Cedar LNG.
EIA.
