It’s taken almost 10-years to plan and install but the world’s biggest floating vessel, the 535-yard long liquefied natural gas (LNG) production barge Prelude has just shipped its first gas from Australia to customers in Asia.
Moored in the Indian Ocean 300 miles north-east of the Australian coastal town of Broome the giant facility sucks gas from reservoirs too remote for pumping ashore, converts the gas into a liquid for offloading into conventional LNG carriers.
A project of oil and gas major Royal Dutch Shell, Prelude displaces 600,000 tons which makes it five-times the size of the biggest aircraft carrier in the U.S. fleet.
Shell has not published a final cost of Prelude but the oil industry consultancy, Wood Mackenzie, has estimated it to be close to $17 billion.
If Prelude performs to its design specifications it should be able to ship out 3.6 million tonnes of LNG a year plus 1.3 million tonnes of light crude oil (condensate) and 400,000 tonnes of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
Shell’s director for integrated gas and new energies, Maarten Wetselaar, said in a statement that Prelude formed part of his company’s global gas portfolio and would play an important part in meeting customer demand for cleaner energy.
A Spanish-registered LNG carrier, Valencia Knutsen, received the first LNG from Prelude.
Shell has not published a final cost of Prelude but the oil industry consultancy, Wood Mackenzie, has estimated it to be close to $17 billion.
If Prelude performs to its design specifications it should be able to ship out 3.6 million tonnes of LNG a year plus 1.3 million tonnes of light crude oil (condensate) and 400,000 tonnes of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
Shell’s director for integrated gas and new energies, Maarten Wetselaar, said in a statement that Prelude formed part of his company’s global gas portfolio and would play an important part in meeting customer demand for cleaner energy.
A Spanish-registered LNG carrier, Valencia Knutsen, received the first LNG from Prelude.
Source: Forbes
