NOPSEMA grants approval for Shell Prelude FLNG restart

Australia’s National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) granted approval for Shell to restart operations on the Prelude floating LNG vessel moored 475 km offshore from Broome in Western Australia.

Prelude’s production was suspended following a fire and power outage in December 2021, following which NOPSEMA visited the vessel. (OGJ Online, Dec. 28, 2021).

Inspectors found that the power failures on the vessel directly impacted emergency response capabilities, the operation of safety critical equipment, the habitability of the vessel, and the functionality of process equipment required to effectively manage the LNG inventory.

Shell reportedly completed repairs this month and NOPSEMA has offered a green light for operations to resume.

However, Shell has not said when it would bring the vessel back online. The company’s chief executive Ben van Beurden said in February that Prelude would probably be offline for most of the year’s first quarter as the company works through the stages to prepare for hydrocarbon restart with safety and stability foremost in mind.

The $24 billion, 488 m-long vessel has capacity to produce 3.6 million tonnes per year (tpy) of LNG, 1.3 million tpy of condensate, and 0.4 million tpy of LPG.

Prelude was first brought on stream in 2018. After delays, it shipped its first cargo of LNG in June 2019.

Shell is operator with 67.5% interest. Inpex has 17.5%, Kogas 10%, and CPC 5%.