Perth-based company Oxair Gas Systems has secured a contract to maintain the nitrogen generator plant on-board Shell’s Prelude floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility.
The Prelude is currently under construction in South Korea and will be 488m long and 74m wide, making it the world’s FLNG facility. It will be located approximately 200km off the west coast of Australia.
The Prelude will have a production capacity of around 3.6 million tonnes of liquid per annum (mtpa). It is designed to withstand a category five cyclone and will enable continuous production of LNG for the next 25 years.
It aims to take in the equivalent of 110,000 barrels of oil per day in natural gas and cool it into liquefied natural gas. This chilling process will reduce the volume of the natural gas which will then be loaded onto specialised LNG tankers and transported for sale worldwider.
Not only will the Prelude project use fewer materials, less land and seabed than onshore facilities, developing the gas in situ provides less impact on coastal habitats.
The FLNG site avoids the need for shoreline pipe crossings, dredging and jetty works and product carriers will be away from coastal reefs and whale migration routes.
Prelude is expected to arrive of Australia’s west coast in 2017.