Shell Chairman: Floating LNG Is A Game Changer For Offshore Gas

PARIS (Dow Jones)–Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s (RDSA, RDSB, RDSA.LN, RDSB.LN) new technology to produce liquefied natural gas aboard floating vessels will prove to be a game changer for the offshore gas industry, said the company’s Chairman, Jorma Ollila Tuesday.

“This game-changing technology will substantially reduce the cost and environmental footprint of developing offshore gas fields,” Ollila said at the International Energy Agency’s Ministerial Meeting in Paris.

“There is no need for long pipelines, for platforms to pump the gas to shore, for dredging, jetty construction or onshore development,” all of which add costs to gas projects, he said.

Shell plans to use the first floating LNG plant to develop the Prelude gas fields 200 kilometres off the coast of Australia. This project demonstrates that floating LNG opens up potential oil and gas reserves formerly regarded as too expensive to produce, said Martin Ferguson, Australia’s Minister for Resources and Energy.

Floating LNG will become an important contributor to Australia’s economic well being, Ferguson said.

-By James Herron, Dow Jones Newswires

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