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Safety strife for Shell’s LNG giant Prelude

The Prelude project will be fired up 475 kilometres north-east of Broome, ready to liquefy natural gas straight from the ocean floor and ship it around the world.

Peter Milne: The West Australian: 

Shell has struggled through a series of safety missteps as it readies its cutting-edge Prelude floating LNG vessel for production.

Shell reported 17 incidents to the offshore safety regulator NOPSEMA between May and October 2018 that the regulator classified as dangerous occurrences.

The reports, obtained by WestBusiness through a freedom of information request, show the challenges facing hundreds of WA workers that have helicoptered about 500km back and forth between Broome and the 488m-long giant since it arrived from South Korea in July 2017.

One difficulty with floating LNG vessels is that an LNG carrier must berth alongside as the two vessels bob about in the sea, unlike floating oil production facilities that offload oil to a tanker a safe distance away through long flexible hoses.

In early May 2018 Shell tried to bring the LNG carrier Gallina alongside.

A tow rope to a tug failed when the 290m-long carrier was just 50m from Prelude and the operation had to be aborted.

That problem was caused by a tow rope that was incorrectly assembled.

Nine days later something as trivial as wrongly shaped plastic thwarted another attempt to load LNG on to Prelude.

It was thought the Gallina was safely secured to the Prelude by 16 mooring lines that ran through guides on the Prelude called fairleads. As the crew prepared to connect the LNG loading arms a mooring line failed and the Gallina was released and pulled away.

Afterwards it was found that all 16 lines had been significantly damaged by rubbing against sharp edges of nylon liners in the fairleads.

This seemingly trifling detail could have caused a “complete mooring failure” with “potential for serious consequences” if it had occurred later while LNG was being transferred.

Two weeks later the Gallina successfully offloaded its LNG and Prelude had gas to power itself and test its processing plant.

However, having gas on board the Prelude increased the risks Shell had to manage.

A flange leaked near the LNG loading arms as super-cold -162C LNG sitting at the bottom of a pipe caused it to contract and bend.

Another type of gas, hydrogen sulphide, was released when construction debris from the Korean shipyard was being removed from a tank and the area was evacuated.

In July a fire damper intended to keep gas from entering the air-conditioning system for the accommodation quarters failed to close when tested but was repaired quickly.

In August, Prelude lost all its power supply when a pump sending water to a gas-fired boiler tripped.

All workers on the Prelude and the attached 750-bed Posh Arcadia floating hotel went to their muster stations as the diesel emergency generators powered up to supply essential services.

But a transformer failed and the system to cover the deck with firefighting foam was left without power and unable to operate.

Other problems included a test of a system to cover the top of LNG tanks with a deluge of water in an emergency that found it delivered only half the planned amount of water as the system used undersized valves.

There was a small fire when dust in an oxygen cylinder valve ignited, leading to a muster of all personnel.

Newly installed insulation on a hot high-pressure steam line was seen smouldering and when the insulation was pulled away it caught fire. The insulation had been secured by combustible tape.

A Shell spokeswoman said the company had a rigorous program on Prelude to identify and manage risk in a controlled way.

“It is not unexpected for issues to arise during this phase of a project and it is standard practice to notify NOPSEMA,” she said. “We are proud of our safety and reporting culture.”

She said Shell encouraged workers to raise safety concerns.

TEETHING PROBLEMS

2017

July: Prelude arrives from Korea

2018

May: Tow line to tug fails, mooring lines fail

June: LNG loaded onto Prelude, gas leak, flood detection not working

July: Hydrogen sulfide leak, flooded machinery room, fire dampers did not close

August: No power to fire-fighting foam

September: Smouldering insulation

October: Small fire

December: 750-bed accommodation vessel for additional workers leaves, wells opened and gas flows to Prelude.

2019

February: Preparing for first export of condensate

SOURCE

RELATED

The links below are to a series of articles, many triggered by a well-placed whistleblower directly involved in the pioneering Royal Dutch Shell Prelude project. Includes articles by Mr Bill Campbell, the retired distinguished HSE Group Auditor of Shell International and another retired Shell guru with a track record of spotting potential pitfalls in major Shell projects. read more

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Aberdeen engineering giant helps Shell develop Australian business

WOOD has won a multi-million dollar contract to work on the development of an Australian gas field.

The Aberdeen engineering giant will complete design work in connection with Shell’s Crux field, which lies around 115 miles off Western Australia.

The award provides a vote of confidence in Wood on the part of Shell, which describes Crux as an important part of its Australian gas portfolio.

Wood stepped up efforts to win business overseas in response to the crude price plunge, which took a heavy toll on the North Sea oil services business on which it used to focus. read more

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Shell awards FEED contract for Prelude ‘satellite’ gas platform

Offshore staff: 6 February 2019

PERTH, Australia – Shell Australia has contracted Wood and KBR to undertake integrated front-end engineering design (FEED) for the Crux gas project, 600 km (373 mi) north of Broome, offshore Western Australia.

The main facilities will comprise a remotely operated, not normally manned platform and a gas export pipeline.

Shell will use these as a source of backfill gas supply to the Prelude floating liquefied natural gas vessel, with the platform drying the gas and exporting gas/condensate to Prelude via a new 160-km (99-mi) multi-phase pipeline.

Wood and KBR’s engineering and project management teams in Perth will manage the program over 18 months, supported by Wood’s Kuala Lumpur division, providing integrated FEED for the topsides, jacket, export pipeline and subsea pipeline end manifold. read more

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Shell ponders Crux field connection to Prelude FLNG project

2019: By Rick Wilkinson OGJ Correspondent The Perth-based Australian subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell PLC has begun the approval process for a potential $2-billion (Aus.) development of its Crux natural gas-condensate field in the Browse basin license AC/L9 offshore Western Australia as a tie in to the company’s Prelude floating LNG (FLNG) facilities.

Crux has long been considered a likely second phase to Shell’s $16.6-billion (Aus.) Prelude development that has recently been brought on stream via the world’s largest FLNG vessel permanently moored in the field.

Initially the hook-up was not envisioned for many years, as a back-fill when production of gas from Prelude began to decline late next decade. A development plan recently submitted to Australia’s National Offshore Petroleum Safety & Management Authority (NOPSEMA), however, outlines the start of front-end engineering and design work for Crux later this year leading to a final investment decision in 2020. read more

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Shell’s Prelude LNG inches ahead amid talk of technical problems

Shell’s Prelude floating LNG project has taken longer than expected to start up.  Shell Australia

By Angela Macdonald-Smith: 01 Feb 2019

Energy giant Shell has brushed off persistent talk about technical problems dogging the start-up of the huge Prelude floating LNG project off Australia’s far north-west coast but has signalled the first LNG cargo from the closely watched venture may still be several weeks away.

The multinational announced the beginning of production from the offshore Prelude gas field in late December but is still in the process of commissioning the complex LNG processing systems on board what is the world’s largest floating structure. read more

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Worries for LNG as prices slip amid record North Asia imports: Russell

(Repeats with no changes to text. The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters.)

JANUARY 17, 2019

By Clyde Russell

LAUNCESTON, Australia, Jan 17 (Reuters) – The spot price of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Asia has completely missed its usual winter peak, with much of the blame being laid at the door of milder-than-usual temperatures trimming demand.

That sounds perfectly plausible, but doesn’t quite tally with the fact that delivered volumes into the major consuming region of Northeast Asia hit a record-high in December. read more

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Shell to load first condensate cargo from Prelude FLNG project end Jan

Singapore — Shell will load the first condensate cargo from Australia’s Prelude FLNG project at end January, according to shipping reports and sources Thursday.

The condensate will be loaded in a 80,000 mt clip over January 31 to February 2, shipping reports showed.

A vessel has not been fixed for the cargo, and shipbrokers said Shell began looking for an Aframax tanker to load the cargo Thursday.

Shell did not immediately respond to an email query seeking comment.

The destination of the cargo is unclear, though trade sources have said that the oil major will likely use the cargo within its own network of splitters and refineries. read more

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World’s largest floating LNG platform starts production in Australia

Jessica Jaganathan: December 26, 2018

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell said on Wednesday it has begun output at its Prelude floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility in Australia, the world’s largest floating production structure and the last of a wave of eight LNG projects built in the country over the last decade.

Though the project started up later and cost more than originally estimated, it is expected to further cement Australia’s lead as the world’s biggest LNG exporter, after the country took the crown in November. read more

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Shell’s ocean giant Prelude a step closer to full start

Shell’s giant Prelude floating LNG vessel is edging closer to production as the accommodation vessel that housed up to 750 workers over the year moves away to allow the final stages of start-up to occur.

The Posh Arcadia accommodation vessel sailed to a station about 6km north of Prelude on Thursday morning, according to vessel tracking website MarineTraffic.

A Shell spokeswoman said the company continued to prepare Prelude for operations. “We expect to see production around the end of the year,” she said. read more

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Australia grabs world’s biggest LNG exporter crown from Qatar in Nov

Australia will further cement its top position as the final new project in the pipeline, Royal Dutch Shell’s Prelude, comes online by next year.

Jessica Jaganathan: DECEMBER 10, 2018

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Australia overtook Qatar as the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for the first time in November, data from Refinitiv Eikon showed on Monday.

The surge in Australian exports follows the start up of a number of export projects in the country over the past three years, most recently the Ichthys project offshore its northern coast.

In November, Australia loaded 6.5 million tonnes of LNG for exports while Qatar exported over 6.2 million tonnes, the data showed. read more

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Shell says production at Prelude FLNG to start at end-2018

Jessica Jaganathan: DECEMBER 4, 2018

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell expects production at its Prelude floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) unit to start at the end of the year, a spokeswoman told Reuters on Tuesday.

“We continue to progress Prelude towards operations, with safety and quality being our main focus … We expect to see production around the end of the year,” she told Reuters in an emailed statement.

Prelude – which will process natural gas produced offshore northern Australia and export it as LNG – is expected to have an annual LNG production capacity of 3.6 million tonnes. It will also produce 1.3 million tonnes a year of condensate and 400,000 tonnes a year of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). read more

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East Timor to buy Shell’s stake in Greater Sunrise gas fields for $300 million

NOVEMBER 21, 2018 / 10:20 AM

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – East Timor has agreed to buy Royal Dutch Shell’s stake in the Greater Sunrise natural gas fields off the northern coast of Australia for $300 million, the government and Shell Australia said on Wednesday.

The agreement for Shell’s 26.56 percent stake in the project will allow the tiny nation to push for development of the field. The site, which was discovered in 1974, straddles the maritime border between Australia and East Timor and disputes between the two countries over the border has delayed development. read more

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Shell exit from Greater Sunrise paves way for Chinese

Shell exit from Greater Sunrise paves way for Chinese

East Timor has bought Shell’s stake in the Greater Sunrise project, giving it a majority share and putting more impetus behind the project’s development

By Damon Evans 21 November 2018

East Timor’s decision to buy out Shell’s stake in the Greater Sunrise fields has revived momentum in the project, which will require billions of dollars of investment, and paves the way for Chinese participation.

Dili agreed on Tuesday to pay $300 million for Shell’s 26.56% stake in the fields, which straddle the Australian and Timorese sea beds. The move follows a recent agreement to buy out ConocoPhillips’ share of the fields.

The Greater Sunrise project was considered to be politically stranded and of negligible… read more

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Shell’s up next, and last, in $200 billion Australia LNG bonanza

And then there was one.

Australia’s nine-year, $200 billion boom in liquefied natural gas still has a final debut in the works: Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s Prelude, floating 200 kilometers (124 miles) off its northwest coast. It’s the last project in that investment cycle to start production after Japan’s Inpex Corp. shipped its maiden cargo from Ichthys LNG on Monday.

Shell’s Prelude is among seven export projects in gas-rich Australia sanctioned since 2009 by global energy giants including Chevron Corp. and Exxon Mobil Corp., as well as regional big hitters such as Australia’s Woodside Petroleum Ltd. and Malaysia’s Petroleum Nasional Bhd. The Pacific nation now rivals Qatar as the world’s biggest seller of LNG, a form of natural gas super-chilled into a liquid that can be shipped on tankers. read more

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Shell Australia, QGC to drill 250 gas wells in Queensland

By Rick Wilkinson: OGJ Correspondent: 2018

A group led by Royal Dutch Shell PLC that includes Queensland Gas Co. (QGC) plans to drill 250 coal seam gas wells during 2019-20 as part of its program in the Western Downs region of Queensland.

The wells will be connected to the existing QGC gas processing plants and produce about 930 petajoules of gas over the next 30 years.

The program has been called Project Goog-a-binge, a name gifted by the Iman traditional owners of the region. Goog-a-binge is the Iman word for scrub turkey, which is an important totem for this Aboriginal group. read more

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These Are the Biggest Natural Gas Producers in the World

Matthew DiLallo Matthew DiLallo: (TMFmd19Sep 10, 2018 at 12:02PM

Royal Dutch Shell: A bold bet to remain the world’s second-largest gas producer

Royal Dutch Shell became the world’s second-largest gas producer in 2016 after spending $70 billion to buy BG Group, which boosted Shell’s natural gas production rate by 25% while also adding a large-scale LNG business and vast gas reserves. Shell produces natural gas from several countries, with its largest supplies coming from Norway, Malaysia, Australia, the U.S., and Canada. Australia is its biggest source of gas at more than 600 BCF in 2017, which is more than double the output of its other top regions. read more

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$US150 a barrel? Shareholder greed could make oil prices double

By Ben Sharples: Bloomberg News: 7 July 2018

Oil investors may regret urging companies to cough up cash now instead of investing in growth for later as the dearth of exploration is setting the stage for an unprecedented crude price spike, according to Sanford C. Bernstein.

Companies have been compelled to focus on boosting returns and shareholder distributions at the expense of capital expenditures aimed at finding new supplies, analysts including Neil Beveridge wrote in a note on Friday. read more

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Royal Dutch Shell: Streamlining Assets

Jun. 30, 2018 12:54 AM ET

Summary

  • Renewal of assets with great focus on the future.
  • Natural gas as energy source will continue to grow.
  • Share buybacks and generous dividends.

Background

Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS.A) (NYSE:RDS.B) has been actively focusing on what kind of business it wants to be involved in. Part of this activity is to change the composition of its assets. It has been selling plants and oil licenses, and invested where it wants to position the company.

Disposals have also been done to reduce the total debt level. Much of the debt came from the $35 billion acquisition of BG Group back in March of 2016.

Disposals

Early this year, Shell communicated that its plans were to leave oil and gas operations in as many as 10 countries and instead focus more heavily on gas-rich Australia and shale opportunities in the United States. read more

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Prelude FLNG Receives Cool-Down Cargo

BY MAREX 2018-06-11 12:58:00

Shell’s giant floating liquefied natural gas plant (FLNG), the Prelude, moved closer to production last week when she received a cool-down cargo from the LNG carrier Gallina.

The 70,000 dwt Gallina transferred a load of LNG to the Prelude on Wednesday and Thursday as the plant prepares for commissioning. It was the first time that Prelude has had an LNG carrier alongside to test the plant’s sophisticated loading arms.

Prelude is now testing its systems in preparation for first gas from Shell’s Prelude field, which holds an estimated three trillion cubic feet of natural gas (in combination with the adjacent Concerto field). Royal Dutch Shell hopes to begin generating revenue from the multi-billion-dollar project sometime this year. read more

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German solar battery maker sonnen secures Shell cash to expand

Vera Eckert: May 23, 2018 FRANKFURT (Reuters) – German solar battery maker sonnen has secured 60 million euros ($71 million) in funds from Shell Ventures and existing shareholders to expand at home and abroad.

Shell Ventures, a unit of the Anglo-Dutch oil major that has been boosting its investments in solar and other renewables, was a lead investor in the latest funding round, sonnen Chief executive Christoph Ostermann told Reuters.

“With this money, we can get started on important investment plans, especially in the United States and Australia,” he said, adding that existing shareholders also contributed extra cash.

“We also want to invest in broadening our sonnen community and our virtual power plant (VPP), and expand our offering of grid-related services,” the sonnen CEO said, adding that the firm aimed to turn a profit in Germany in two years. read more

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Shell, Inpex near finish line in race to export north Australian LNG

Henning Gloystein: APRIL 24, 2018

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Shell and Inpex are on the final stretch of a years-long race to export gas from offshore northern Australia, where both have spent billions of dollars building the world’s biggest maritime vessels to grab a slice of Asia’s booming LNG market.

Anglo-Dutch energy major Royal Dutch Shell and Inpex, Japan’s biggest oil and gas producer, are vying for first gas from two overlapping fields after delays and cost overruns that have plagued both projects. 

The pair have spent billions on offshore facilities, including Shell’s 490 meter (1,600 ft) long Prelude floating liquefied natural gas unit and Inpex’s Ichthys Explorer semi-submersible platform, both the world’s largest of their class. read more

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Australia, East Timor sign deal on maritime border, gas field

Michelle Nichols: 6 MARCH 2018

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – East Timor and Australia signed a treaty at the United Nations in New York on Tuesday to resolve a long-running dispute over their maritime border and struck a deal on how to share revenue from the offshore Greater Sunrise gas field.

East Timor will receive a bigger share of the revenue than Australia depending on the development concept – 70 percent of the revenue if the gas is piped to the tiny country or 80 percent if the gas is piped to Australia for processing. read more

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Chevron expects LNG supply shortage by 2025

John Benny: 6 March 2018

(Reuters) – Chevron Corp said on Tuesday it expected supply shortage in the global liquefied natural gas (LNG) market by around 2025, echoing comments made last month by top LNG trader Royal Dutch Shell.

Demand for natural gas, which burns cleaner than coal and oil, has surged as countries such as China look to curb environmental pollution.

Chevron, owner of the giant Gorgon and Wheatstone LNG projects in Australia, said it expects global demand to be nearly 600 million metric tonne per annum (mmtpa) by 2035, while supply could be just about half of that. read more

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Shell warns of liquefied natural gas shortage as LNG demand blows past expectations

  • Royal Dutch Shell reports that the market in liquefied natural gas, or LNG, reached 293 million tons in 2017, 30 percent higher than expected.
  • Despite the growth, Shell warns that the market could face a shortage of LNG by the mid-2020s due to underinvestment in new projects.
  • The root of the problem is a mismatch between the types of contracts buyers and sellers prefer, which may delay investments in new LNG capacity, Shell says.
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Royal Dutch Shell says the world could be grappling with a shortage of liquefied natural gas within a decade due to underinvestment in new projects.

The Anglo-Dutch energy giant issued the warning in its second annual LNG outlook, which reports on developments in the booming market for natural gas cooled to liquid form for export. Shell says the market for LNG grew by 29 million tons last year, 30 percent more than previously expected.

Trading in LNG reached 293 million tons in 2017, up from just 100 million tons at the turn of the century. At nearly 300 million tons, suppliers shipped enough LNG last year to power about 575 million homes, by Shell’s count. read more

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Shell LNG glut ‘conspicuously absent’: Shell CEO Ben van Beurden

by Angela Macdonald-Smith: Feb 2 2018 at 12:03 PM: Updated Feb 2 2018 at 3:19 PM

Royal Dutch Shell chief executive Ben van Beurden has declared that the energy giant’s confidence in the LNG market has been justified with no sign of the oversupply that others had warned of.

“The LNG glut is conspicuously absent isn’t it, much to the surprise of those that thought this was inevitable,” Mr van Beurden told reporters at Shell’s fourth-quarter results briefing in London. read more

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The top five oil and gas trends for 2018

COLE LATIMER: JANUARY 28 2018 – 4:23PM

This year will be the year of the oil and gas revival, as prices lift performance and major projects come online.

While Australia is increasing its focus on securing domestic gas supply, it is taking a greater role globally and evolving the industry.

Wood Mackenzie Australasia oil and gas leader Saul Kavonic has outlined the five trends that will mark LNG growth in 2018.

Australia leads LNG

Australia has been ramping up its LNG projects for a number of years, and 2018 will see it finally take the world’s number one spot from Qatar. read more

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Italian oil and gas firm Eni buys out Shell’s stake in Evans Shoal gas field

GARY SHIPWAY, NT News: December 28, 2017 3:47am

THE Italian oil and gas firm that operates the Blacktip gas project, which supplies gas for Territory domestic power generation, has taken another significant step forward in its growth plans off Northern Australia.

ENI has bought out Shell’s stake in the large undeveloped Evans Shoal gas field 300km northwest of Darwin in the Timor Sea’s Bonaparte Basin.

The Blacktip gas field is 110km off our coast and pumps gas to ENI’s Yelcherr Gas Plant near Wadeye.

Evans Shoal is among five offshore gas ventures contributing to a $625,000 study being carried out into the feasibility of expanding the Darwin LNG plant. The study started in April and is due for completion this month. read more

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The world’s largest-ever vessel is all set to go in 2018

In 2018, the 488-meter long facility called Prelude, will begin its job of extracting and processing gas at sea.

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Displacing as much water as five aircraft carriers is just one eye-popping statistic that attempts to explain the sheer size of the world’s largest vessel.

Construction on Shell‘s huge floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) structure began in 2012 and was finished in July by Samsung’s Heavy Industries in South Korea, before being towed to Australia.

Now the floating facility sits at its first location, Shell’s Prelude gas field, around 125 miles north off the Western Australian coast. read more

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Eni Acquires Shell Stake in Australian Gas Field

By Marc Bisbal Arias Dow Jones Newswires

Eni SpA (ENI.MI) said Thursday that it has acquired the 32.5% stake in an Australian gas field owned by Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA.LN)’s subsidiary Shell Australia Proprietary Ltd.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The Evans Shoal field is located around 300 kilometers northwest of Darwin, where the Darwin liquefied natural gas plant is operating. The field is estimated to have at least 8 trillion cubic feet of raw gas in place, Eni said. The acquisition doubles Eni’s stake in the field to 65%.

The Italian company also said that it has become the operator of the retention lease NT/RL7 located in the north Bonaparte Basin, offshore Northern Australia. read more

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U.S. LNG exports reach a tipping point

Steve Hill, executive vice president of Shell Energy, discusses Shell’s growth in the liquefied natural gas industry aboard Dynagas’ Lena River LNG carrier as its docked at Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass LNG

SABINE PASS, La. – In 2011, Cheniere Energy was a little-known company with big ambitions when it signed an $8 billion contract that would transform the United States into an exporter of liquefied natural gas after decades of relying on foreign suppliers. read more

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ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell paid no tax in Australia for 2016

Sonali Paul: December 7, 2017

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) and Chevron Corp (CVX.N) paid no tax in Australia in the 2016 financial year, the third year in a row, despite reporting billions of dollars in income from operations in the country, a report from the tax office showed on Thursday.

Exxon Mobil, which has oil and gas production in the Bass Strait and a stake in the giant Gorgon LNG project among other assets in Australia, reported A$6.7 billion ($5.0 billion) in income, but it reported a loss for taxable income and paid no tax, similar to the previous two years. read more

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Shell Strikes Deal for Australian Gas — WSJ

By Robb M. Stewart Dow Jones Newswires

MELBOURNE, Australia — Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA) has moved finally to unleash a massive natural-gas resource buried in coal deposits in eastern Australia in a development that will see fuel flow to its majority owned liquefied natural gas venture on the country’s tropical coast.

The energy giant and various partners have agreed to a 27-year sales deal covering 5 trillion cubic feet of gas that will anchor the staged development of the Arrow fields in Queensland. read more

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Arrow Energy signs major Shell gas supply deal

Cole Latimer: DECEMBER 1, 2017

Arrow Energy has signed a 27-year deal to annually supply more than four times the forecast east coast domestic gas shortfall to Shell’s Queensland Curtis Liquefied Natural Gas (QCLNG) project.

The agreement, which begins first gas production in 2021, will provide an extra 240 petajoules a year of gas from Queensland’s Surat Basin, or close to 6500 petajoules over the life of the contract, to the state’s market.

Arrow and its joint owners, Shell and PetroChina, will now discuss the expansion of its Surat Basin project, with a final decision expected in 2018. read more

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Shell, PetroChina jv paves way towards big gas development in Australia

Reuters Staff: December 1, 2017

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) and PetroChina (601857.SS) have taken a big step towards a long awaited gas development in Australia, signing a 27-year deal to supply Shell’s Queensland Curtis Liquefied Natural Gas (QCLNG) project.

The deal would bring to market about 5 trillion cubic feet of gas held by Shell and PetroChina’s Arrow Energy in the state of Queensland, Arrow said.

Arrow’s Surat Basin gas is among the biggest undeveloped resources in eastern Australia but the project has been stuck on the drawing board since getting state and federal approvals in 2013 due to high costs and weak gas prices. read more

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Shell damps down Prelude LNG expectations

by Angela Macdonald-Smith: Nov 29, 2017

Royal Dutch Shell has sewn doubt in the market about an early 2018 start-up of the oil major’s innovative Prelude floating LNG project off the coast of north-west Australia, with chief executive Ben van Beurden signalling that the project will only start contributing noticeably to cash flow in 2019.

While the ramp-up of the $US54 billion (71 billion) Gorgon LNG project in Western Australia was named by Mr van Beurden as among projects named to help grow cash flows next year, Prelude was included in the later batch. read more

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China LNG imports set to hit record in Nov, push up prices

With Royal Dutch Shell’s Prelude floating LNG project in Western Australia and Ichthys, a massive project led by Japan’s Inpex in the north of Australia, about to be completed, Australia’s export capacity could hit 85 million tonnes next year, topping that of current leader Qatar.

* China monthly LNG imports set to breach 4 mln T for first time

* That comes as millions of households switch to gas from coal 

* Domestic China LNG prices hit record

* Asian spot LNG prices at 3-year high of almost $10/mmBtu

* Rising Australia exports should ensure mkt remains well supplied

By Henning Gloystein

SINGAPORE, Nov 29 (Reuters) – China’s imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) are set to hit record levels in November, with demand due to peak over the cold winter months as millions of households shift from burning coal for heating to using gas, driving up prices for the fuel. read more

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Shell Says Yes To Free Cash Flow, No To Debt

Callum Turcan: Nov 15, 2017

Summary

  • Royal Dutch Shell generates free cash flow in Q3.
  • Outlook for Q4, even in light of impending capex increase, looks bright due to Brent rallying.
  • Over $10 billion in net debt reduction since the end of Q3 2016.
  • Overview of Q3 results and what to expect going forward.

Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS.A) (NYSE:RDS.B) has come a long way since it bottomed out in early-2016. Its latest earnings report reinforced the notion that when Brent is trading in the $50s, Shell’s cash flow position becomes balanced. Cash flow neutrality is the key breakeven point for the industry in the current environment, as oil & gas giants need to show that they can cover capital expenditures and large dividends through organic means at realistic prices. Let’s check out how Royal Dutch Shell did in a low $50s Brent world, with an eye on organic cash inflows and outflows. read more

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Woodside Falls Most in Year After Shell to Sell Stake

Shares falls as much as 3.5% in early Australia trading

Allan Gray Australia says it boosts stake in the LNG producer

Woodside Petroleum Ltd. fell the most in a year after Europe’s biggest oil company, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, said it would offloaded its entire holding in the Australian liquefied natural gas producer for $2.7 billion.

Woodside shares fell as much as 3.5 percent in intraday trading on Tuesday to A$31.10 ($23.74), and changed hands at A$31.19 at 11:51 a.m. in Sydney. Shell said it would sell an 8.5 percent stake in Woodside at A$31.10 a share, a 3.5 percent discount to Woodside’s closing price on Monday. The Anglo-Dutch company then expanded that sale overnight to exit its remaining 4.8 percent holding. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell to sell part of its Woodside Petroleum stake for $1.7 billion

Reuters Staff: NOVEMBER 13, 2017

LONDON/SYDNEY (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell is selling part of its stake in Australia’s largest independent oil and gas company, Woodside Petroleum Ltd, to equity investors for about $1.7 billion.

Shell, which has been slowly divesting its Woodside holding, said on Monday its Shell Energy Holdings Australia Limited (SEHAL) unit had struck a deal with two investment banks over the sale of 71.6 million Woodside shares for A$31.10 ($23.79) apiece. read more

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Shell Prelude FLNG named as FieldComm Group 2017 Plant of the Year

06 November 2017

The Shell Prelude Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) plant/ship of Royal Dutch Shell, which will be located in the Timor Sea off the North West coast of Australia, has been named as the FieldComm Group 2017 Plant of the Year.

This annual award is presented by FieldComm Group to recognise the people, companies and plant sites around the globe that are using the advanced capabilities of FOUNDATION FieldbusHART and WirelessHART technology in real-time applications for improved operations, maintenance, and asset productivity. This is the second award presented to a Shell facility, with the first being awarded in 2011 to Shell Scotford in Alberta, Canada.

Having recently completed the journey to its final destination, 200-km off the Australian mainland, it will be connected to Deepwater gas wells and is scheduled to begin regular operations in 2018. The 488m x 71m vessel’s 14 production facilities, rising eight stories above the deck will extract and process around 3.6 million tonnes per year of liquefied natural gas (LNG) during its 25-year lifespan. “FieldComm Group technologies are used in every phase of the Shell Prelude FLNG project and form the backbone of the intelligent predictive maintenance system,” said Kyle Dickson, control and automation engineer for Shell Prelude FLNG. “The use of device templates is delivering conformity and quality assurance throughout the commissioning process. This has enabled a small team to achieve impressive loop check rates while maintaining high levels of quality assurance. Once commissioned, equipment and unit modules will use the diagnostics and alerts provided by both HART and FOUNDATION Fieldbus technologies to great effect, specifically avoiding numerous plant trips and enabling unprecedented levels of remote support and deep-level diagnostics.” Rong Gul, senior automation engineer and subject matter expert (SME) for smart instrumentation and instrument asset management with Shell Global Solutions, reports that Prelude’s process applications employ more than 8,000 FOUNDATION Fieldbus devices, including 2,500 valve positioners, located on all control and monitoring devices, and connected only to the DCS; more than 4,500 HART devices connected to the DCS and PLCs via HART multiplexers, and used predominantly on devices connected to safety instrumented systems (SIS) and fire and gas (F&G) systems. WirelessHART is used on some specific applications. Use of the advanced diagnostics and rationalised device alerts has enabled predictive and targeted maintenance execution. Prelude is dependent on having a fully realised remote monitoring group of engineers advising on device issues. Commonly it has been possible to identify issues, specifically pertaining to control valves before a fault escalates and results in a plant upset or outage. While still in a start-up phase, Prelude is operating vast amounts of utility and marine systems, and the benefits of an intelligent instrument management system are already being realised.

At the peak of its recent commissioning efforts Prelude’s staff was performing more than 500 loop checks per week, and checking multiple streams of complex functions. The vessel’s utilities plant was also running 24/7, which made maintenance challenging. Thanks to using templates for its parameters, Prelude’s staff and contractors achieved total time-savings of 80% for device commissioning and loop checking across all devices using device templates; time savings for the valve positioner loop check procedure was more than 80% for the full loop test; tested all device types during the FAT (Factory Acceptance Test) in less than three days, compared to previous test using traditional methods, which took more than two days to test just three device types; and human error during FAT was quickly identified allowing for fast correction. read more

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Royal Dutch Shell takes cashflow crown off Exxon Mobil

Royal Dutch Shell has taken Exxon Mobil’s cashflow crown, a year after completing the biggest deal in its history.

Europe’s largest energy company vaulted ahead on this closely watched indicator of financial health in the first nine months of 2017 as assets acquired from BG Group from Brazil to Australia churned out cash. For the year as a whole, Shell is on course to surpass its larger US rival on the measure for the first time in about two decades.

Shell generated $28.38 billion (€24.34bn) of cashflow from operations in the first nine months of the year, compared with $23.52 billion (€20.18bn) from Exxon. Chief executive Ben Van Beurden has already spelled out that his main long-term goal was overtaking Exxon to become the best-performing oil major. read more

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Shell completes $4.4 billion in sales a day before earnings report

Dutch supermajor trying to dump $30 billion in assets in order to shape the company “into a world class investment.”

By Daniel J. Graeber  |  Nov. 1, 2017 at 6:17 AM

Nov. 1 (UPI) — Royal Dutch Shell said Wednesday it made further progress in a major divestment plan by completing the sale of assets in Gabon and in the North Sea.

For $628 million, Shell said it completed the sale of its entire Gabonese oil and gas interests to a company controlled by The Carlyle Group. The transaction includes the sale of all of Shell’s onshore oil and gas interests, which includes nine total fields, and the associated infrastructure, including pipelines and export terminals. read more

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Gas producers pumping up demand

  • The Wall Street Journal

After spending hundreds of billions of dollars to transform themselves into global natural gas giants, some of the world’s biggest energy companies face a new challenge: generating more demand as supplies threaten to balloon and prices languish.

Companies including Royal Dutch Shell, Total and Cheniere Energy are trying to establish new markets for liquefied natural gas, a super-chilled version of the fuel that can be shipped around the world. Producers are promoting the use of LNG for industrial trucking and shipping. Companies also say they are considering building the power plants and infrastructure necessary to provide gas and electricity in developing markets such as South Africa and Vietnam. read more

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Shell has seen the future – and it’s several shades of green

Ben Van Beurden, chief executive officer of Royal Dutch Shell, sees a future dominated by gas and renewables, with gas the clear winner. Photo: Bloomberg

By Ben Marlow: 

If there is one subject that divides energy producers it’s the question of when oil demand will peak.

Indeed, it is such a controversial topic that some senior figures like Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister, Khalid al-Falih, prefer not to discuss it at all.

He claims talk of peak demand is dangerous. It threatens to reduce vital investment, “compromising” energy security, al-Falih said earlier this year.

John Watson, boss of American oil giant Chevron, recently dismissed the idea of peak demand as “wishful thinking”. read more

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Shell chief punctures myths surrounding gas exporters

 Business columnist, Melbourne: 10 Oct 2017

Shell Australia’s new chair, Zoe Yujnovich, has injected what for some will be an uncomfortable dose of reality into what has been a generally misleading debate about the role that the three big Queensland export LNG plants have played in the east coast energy crisis.

In an address to the national energy summit yesterday, Ms Yujnovich took issue with the widely accepted narrative that exports from the three plants off Gladstone have created a shortage of gas on the east coast and driven a spectacular surge in gas prices for households and manufacturers. read more

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Chevron starts LNG output at Australia’s Wheatstone, first cargo expected in weeks

OCTOBER 9, 2017

* Wheatstone had been due to start shipping in mid-2017

* First cargo expected in “coming weeks”

* Wheatstone LNG will produce 8.9 million tpy at full capacity (Adds trader, Woodside comments, chart, factbox in related content section)

By Sonali Paul

MELBOURNE, Oct 9 (Reuters) – Chevron Corp said on Monday it has started producing liquefied natural gas (LNG) at its Wheatstone project in Australia, slightly later than expected, and plans to ship its first cargo soon. read more

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Australia closing in on Qatar as world’s top LNG exporter

* Australia LNG exports tipped to rise to 74 mt in 2018-19

* Australia’s share of Japan, Korea LNG imports seen growing

* Iron ore price forecast raised to $64 for 2017

SYDNEY, Oct 6 (Reuters) – Australia expects to increase exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) by 16 percent from mid-2018 as $180 billion in new projects hit their stride, nearly catching up with Qatar, the world’s top supplier.

Rising LNG exports coupled with higher prices for steel-making commodities and thermal coal should see Australia’s overall resource and energy export earnings increase 2 percent in the year to end-June 2018, to a record A$211 billion ($165 billion), the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science said on Friday. read more

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400+ workers shut down LNG site, company warns for smoky flaring

5th Oct 2017 4:30 AM | Updated: 9:50 AM

by : 5th Oct 2017 4:30 AM

THEY say where there’s smoke there’s fire, but gas giant Shell is hopeful that won’t be the case when more than 400 workers don the orange and silver for QCLNG’s first shutdown.

The shut down work starts this Friday and is expected to cause increased flaring from the Curtis Island gas exporting site.

Shell wants a major change to its environmental conditions to allow for more smoky flaring, but the application is yet to be approved. read more

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Shell’s Floating LNG Endeavor Is About To Begin

 Oct. 2, 2017 5:45 AM ET

Summary

  • Shell’s floating liquefied natural gas project, the Prelude FLNG venture, will come online within a year.
  • Cash flow generation expected to begin in 2018, two years later than initially planned.
  • Going over the details of Royal Dutch Shell’s Prelude FLNG development.

Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE:RDS.A) (NYSE:RDS.B) is getting closer and closer to finally completing its Prelude FLNG project off the northwestern coast of Australia. FLNG stands for floating liquefied natural gas, a marine vessel that can commercialize gas finds that are too small to justify building a new onshore LNG facility to develop. Let’s dig in.

FLNG overview

The purpose of turning gaseous methane into liquid form is that LNG takes up 1/600th of the space as a liquid, making exports economically viable. By cooling the natural gas down to negative 260oF, Shell can economically supply gas to consumers all over the world. The real genius of FLNG vessels is the ability to fit a processing plant on a ship in a fraction of the space that conventional processing facilities take up, along with Shell’s Dual Mixed Refrigerant unit that can cool the gas down. read more

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Australia Backs Down From Limiting Gas Exports

By Robb M. Stewart and Rob Taylor Features Dow Jones Newswires

MELBOURNE, Australia–Australia’s conservative government held back from imposing curbs on exports of liquefied natural gas after producers including Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA.LN) agreed to put more gas into the domestic market to ease energy shortages on the east coast.

The decision, which followed a meeting between Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and energy companies, came just days after an Australian regulator warned that gas shortages in 2018 could be three times worse than previously thought. Experts had warned that the curbs risked damaging the country’s standing as a destination for investment, while having a limited impact on local gas supply and prices. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.