Shell plans second floating LNG project at Greater Sunrise field

13 June 2011 12:29  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Energy giant Shell said on Monday it plans to install a second floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) project in the Indian Ocean as soon as Australia and East Timor reach an agreement over the field.

Development of the Greater Sunrise field has been delayed by disagreements between East Timor and Australia on gas ownership for years.

"As soon as Australia and East Timor reach an agreement, we can move very quickly," Neil Gilmour, general manager of FLNG at Shell Upstream International, told a news conference.

The Sunrise joint venture is led by Australian oil and gas company Woodside Petroleum, which has a 33.4% stake, followed by US-based energy company ConocoPhillips with 30%. Shell owns a 26.6% share of the planned project, with the remaining 10% controlled by Japan's Osaka Gas.

Meanwhile, front-end engineering and design (FEED) work for Shell's first FLNG facility, known as Prelude, is expected to be completed some time this year, Gilmour said.

The vessel – the first megastructure of its kind – will be built by South Korea’s Samsung.

The Prelude facility, to be moored some 200km (124 miles) from the nearest land in Australia, will produce gas from offshore fields and liquefy it onboard by cooling.

The facility should be ready by 2017, Gilmour said.

The FLNG plant, which Shell says will be the world's largest offshore floating facility, will be 488m (1,601ft) long and weigh around 600,000 tonnes when its storage tanks are full.

Gilmour declined to reveal the cost of the Prelude facility, saying: “We do not comment on the capex [capital expenditure] of the projects.”

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By: Tahir Ikram
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