Shell resumes shipping LNG from Prelude off Australia (updated)

CitroTech

11/04/2022 07:58

(Adds first cargo shipped on Sunday in 2nd paragraph)
    By Sonali Paul
    MELBOURNE, April 11 (Reuters) - Shell Plc  SHEL.L  said on
Monday it has resumed shipping liquefied natural gas (LNG) from
its Prelude floating LNG facility off northwest Australia after
a four-month shutdown due to a major power failure.
    A cargo completed loading and left the site on Sunday night,
a Shell spokesperson said, declining to disclose the
destination.
    "Our focus at Prelude remains on the long-term and
delivering safe, sustained and reliable performance into the
future," Shell said in a statement.
    The 3.6 million-tonnes-a-year Prelude FLNG facility lost
power on Dec. 2, and Shell was unable to restore reliable power
supply after trying for three days. 
    Shell was permitted to resume operations last month after
convincing the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and
Environmental Management Authority that problems had been fixed
and the company could run the facility safely in the event of a
power loss.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2VO03K
    The four-month shutdown was just the latest setback that
Prelude FLNG has faced since its delayed start-up in 2019. 
    The outage at Prelude was one factor that drove up LNG
prices last December. Prices have since rocketed to record highs
as Europe has scrambled for gas to replace Russian exports hit
by sanctions.
    Prelude is co-owned by Shell, Inpex Corp  1605.T , Korea Gas
Corp (KOGAS)  036460.KS  and a subsidiary of Taiwan's state-run
Chinese Petroleum Corp. 

 (Reporting by Sonali Paul; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and
Himani Sarkar)
 ((Sonali.Paul@thomsonreuters.com; +61 407 119 523;))