Shell begins restart of Prelude FLNG after seven-month suspension
- Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A -0.1%) says it has begun restarting operations at its 3.6M mt/year Prelude floating liquefied natural gas facility offshore Western Australia, which has been offline since February due to technical problems.
- The suspension of cargo loadings at Prelude followed an order from Australia’s upstream regulator to carry out additional work following three safety incidents at the plant between September and January.
- The regulator recently accepted Shell’s proposal to develop the 2.2T cf Crux gas field in the Browse basin offshore Western Australia, which is expected to provide backfill gas for Prelude.
- In April, Shell delayed a final investment decision on Crux and other projects until next year because of weaker global LNG demand and lower oil prices.