Royal Dutch Shell’s $12 billion Prelude Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) project has been granted Major Project Facilitation (MPF) status by the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Anthony Albanese.  

 

Mr Albanese said that in declaring the project “strategically significant”, he was directing his department’s officials to assist the company to navigate and, wherever possible, streamline the required planning and environmental approval processes.

 

If given the final go ahead by the relevant authorities, the project would develop the Prelude and Concerto gas fields located in the Browse Basin 475 kilometres north of Broome by deploying a specially built 488-metre-long vessel to extract the gas from beneath the seabed and liquefy it on-board. It would likely be the world’s first floating liquefied natural gas facility. 

 

Mr Albanese said the project would create up to 500 jobs during construction and further 350 long term jobs once the facility is in place as well as generate additional taxes and export earnings.

 

Shell is already working with local tertiary institutions on a program to train Australians in the use of FLNG technology.

 

Mr Albanese said that in the longer term, the project would pave the way for the exploitation and commercialisation of other ‘stranded’ offshore gas reserves which are currently too difficult to access and too costly to develop.