Gas giant eschews Arctic oil rush to moor 500-metre, 600,000-tonne construction off Australian coast
Fiona Harvey: Friday 20 May 2011 16.29 BST
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVs9qjF5Uzo&feature=player_embedded
Shell unveils its plans for a vast offshore gas facility
The world’s first floating natural gas platform is to be built by Royal Dutch Shell, opening up vast new areas of the deep seabed for gas exploration.
The massive platform, nearly half a kilometre long, will be the biggest floating offshore drilling structure in the world, weighing in at about 600,000 tonnes equivalent to six aircraft carriers and staffed by 110 people at a time. Five times more steel will be used in its construction than went into the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Shell would not say how much it is expected to cost, but the total cost of exploiting the company’s Australian off-shore oil fields, where it will be used, is likely to exceed $30bn.