Is Shell’s $17 Billion Bet On Floating LNG A Flop?

shell Prelude floating LNG facility has begun the 5,800km journey from South Korea to North West Australia

What new ship construction project has cost more than a US Navy Supercarrier and is equally troubled with delays and problems? Shell’s Prelude FLNG.

by Sonali Paul (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell  said on Thursday its Prelude floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) project off Australia, offline since early February, is working on restarting operations but would not resume full production this year.

The troubled Prelude FLNG platform was shut down following an electrical trip and Shell has faced a number of issues over the past few months in trying to restart full production and now does not expect to ship any LNG before next year.

“Full production is not expected to resume before year-end. Prelude is a multi-decade project, and our focus is on delivering sustained performance over the long term,” Shell said in a statement.

The company hopes to resume shipping LNG from Prelude in the first quarter of 2021, a person familiar with the situation said.

The $17 billion Prelude project, centred around the world’s biggest floating liquefaction vessel, has been plagued with problems. It shipped its first cargo only last year, more than two years behind schedule, and has yet to achieve steady output at its design capacity of 3.6 million tonnes a year of LNG.

The project is jointly owned by Shell (RDSa.L), Japan’s Inpex Corp 1605.T, Korea Gas Corp 036460.KS and a unit of Taiwan’s CPC Corp.

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