Shell Australia has restarted LNG production at its Prelude floating project in the Browse basin offshore Western Australia.
The project has been shut in for 11 months because of technical issues. The company was forced to take the floating vessel offline in early February 2020 after an electrical trip. This was followed by a series of technical issues including a leaking seal in the turret assembly.
Prelude was brought back onstream early January and the first cargo following restart left for Japan aboard the LNG carrier Symphonic Breeze on Jan. 8.
The 488 m-long vessel first came on stream in December 2018 (OGJ Online, Jan. 7, 2019).
Prelude, permanently moored in 250 m of water 475 km off the coast, has the capacity to produce 3.6 million tonnes/year of LNG, 1.3 million tonnes/year of condensate, and 400,000 tonnes/year of LPG.
Shell has a 67.5% interest in the project. Partners are Inpex Corp. (17.5%), Kogas (10%), and CPC Corp. (5%).