Prelude: a new era for LNG?
http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/prelude-a-new-era-for-lng/27/07/2017
Prelude, the world’s largest floating LNG vessel, has arrived in Australia.
Shell, the developer and operator, has sounded the trumpets and declared it “a new era for the LNG industry.” Indeed, it may be, but this is a very expensive way to produce LNG and one that is operationally unproven.
The world’s first FLNG vessel, developed and operated by Malaysia’s Petronas, the PFLNG Satu facility on the Kanowit gas field, only loaded its first cargo in April. It has yet to ramp up to full production.
Moreover, it is a much smaller beast than Prelude. PFLNG Satu will operate in 70-200 meters of water and has a processing capacity of 1.2 million mt/year of LNG.
Prelude, by contrast, will displace more water than six of the world’s largest aircraft carriers, and is the world’s largest ever offshore facility.
It will produce 5.3 million mt/year of liquids, of which 3.6 million mt/year will be LNG, 1.3 million mt/year condensate and 0.4 million mt/year LPG.
It will operate in 250 meters of water and experience category 5 cyclones over its 20-25 year forecast life, when it is expected to “shelter in place”.
Racking up the costs
No one is throwing around precise numbers for the final cost, which is never a good sign. A “brought in under budget” announcement would surely have been made, if it could have been.
First-of-a-kind technologies, particularly on this scale, are rarely cheap. Prelude’s cost has been estimated by external observers at between $10.8 billion and $12.6 billion....
