Shell Reports Small Fire at Prelude FLNG Construction Site

A small fire occurred at Prelude FLNG construction site in South Korea, news agency Reuters reported Friday citing a statement by Shell Australia.

The incident is not likely to have any impact on delivery schedule, the news agency added.

"Shell can confirm there was an incident on Prelude construction site last week that led to a small fire," according to a statement emailed to Reuters by Shell's Australian arm. "Construction activity resumed immediately and the cause of the incident is being investigated.”

The Prelude FLNG development in Australia will be Shell’s first deployment of its FLNG technology. The technology allows for the production, liquefaction, storage and transfer of LNG at sea, as well as the ability to process and export liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and condensate. Prelude will be located in the Browse Basin, approximately 475km north-northeast of Broome and over 200 km from the nearest point on the coast of the remote Kimberley region, in Western Australia.

The Prelude natural gas field was discovered by Shell in 2007 with an additional field, Concerto, discovered nearby in 2009. Combined, these gas fields have around 3 trillion cubic feet of liquids-rich gas.

The Prelude FLNG facility will be 488m long and 74m wide, weighing more than 600,000 tonnes fully ballasted - roughly six times as much as the largest aircraft carrier. Some 260,000 tonnes of that weight will consist of steel - around five times more than was used to build the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Prelude is operated by Shell in partnership with INPEX, KOGAS and OPIC.

The Prelude FLNG facility is anticipated to stay moored at location for 25 years, and is expected to produce 3.6 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of LNG, 1.3 mtpa of condensate and 0.4 mtpa of LPG for export.