Shell Australia Pty Ltd. has made a final investment decision for development of Crux gas field in the Browse basin offshore Western Australia.
The field—620 km northeast of Broome—will be developed as a tie-in to Shell’s Prelude floating LNG (FLNG) vessel 160 km to the southwest.
Gas processing through the existing infrastructure will reduce development costs, making Crux commercially attractive, said Tony Nunan, Shell Australia chairman. Early engineering and design work has been completed.
The decision comes at a time of growing uncertainty about new oil and gas projects under the newly elected Labor Government in Australia and the potential influence of the Greens Party holding the balance of power in the Senate (upper house) in Canberra.
Nevertheless, the project has received regulatory approvals, including a production license and environmental clearance. Production license AC/L10 has been allocated, transferred from the earlier retention lease AC/R9.
Crux development plans include a new offshore development platform operated remotely from Prelude. Five wells are expected in the initial stage along with laying of an undersea pipeline to connect the platform to the Prelude FLNG vessel.
Crux is designed to supply up to 550 MMcfd.
Construction will begin this year and first gas is expected in 2027.
Shell is operator with 82% interest. Partners are SGH Energy (a division of Seven Group Holdings, Perth) with 15%, and Japan’s Osaka Gas with 3%.