Shell and the Technip-Samsung consortium entered into two separate contracts for the Prelude floating LNG facility, according to a 9 March 2010 announcement. Prelude is located in the Browse Basin off the northwest coast of Western Australia. The first contract covers the FEED elements specific to the Prelude project, taking into account the composition of the gas, local weather conditions and other site specific factors. The second contract details the terms under which the floating LNG facility would be built, if the final investment decision for the Prelude project is made.
Shell's FLNG solution will be able to process gas 'in situ' over an offshore gas field, reducing both project costs and the environmental footprint of an LNG development. The facility can be re-deployed to another gas field once production at one gas field is complete, and the 'design one, build many' approach allows repeatability gains to be captured during design and construction phases. In July 2009, Shell awarded the FLNG contracts to Technip-Samsung as part of a master agreement to build multiple FLNGs over aperiod of 15 years. Details about the other FLNGs to be built as part of the agreement have not been made available.
Shell is the operator and 100% equity holder of the WA-371-P permit, containing the Prelude and Concerto fields. A successful drilling campaign in WA-371-P was recently completed, in which all 12 commitment wells were drilled.
Author: Trevor Demara