Prelude floater cost revealed

A report by the local Yon Hap news agency put the price of the order with South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries and partner French engineering contractor Technip at 1.32 trillion won.

The order was placed early last month pending a final investment decision to develop the Prelude and Concerto fields, which lie about 200km off north-west Australia. Samsung said then it might reveal the value of the contract at a later date.

The unit will be capable of producing about 3.5 million tonnes per annum of LNG per for export direct to Asian markets. The vessel will be one of the first major floating LNG projects and one of the largest floating production units worldwide.

Samsung and Technip have already been involved in front-end engineering and design on the project, and last year signed a broad agreement for the design, construction and installation of several FLNG vessels over 15-year period. The Prelude floater will be 480m long by 75m wide, and will produce about 30,000 barrels per day of condensate and 400,000 tpa of liquefied petroleum gas in addition to LNG at peak output.

The floater will be permanently moored to the field using a giant internal turret to be built by SBM Offshore. Other floating production units in the cyclone-prone region are designed to detach from subsea infrastructure to allow them to take shelter from storms. SBM has said the mooring system will be designed to withstand a ‘1-in-10,000-year’ cyclone.

Shell is still involved in appraisal work on the field. First gas is expected in about 2016 if the venture gets the go ahead. The company has not disclosed reserves numbers at Prelude and Concerto, but has indicated previously that Prelude contains between 2 trillion and 3 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas. Shell owns both the Prelude and Concertina fields with a 100% stake.