Shell Halts Production at Prelude Floating LNG Facility

SINGAPORE– Shell has suspended production at its Prelude floating liquid natural gas facility off Western Australia due to problems with its processes, a spokeswoman said on Friday, and is working through steps to restart production at the world’s largest floating LNG platform.

Shell did not give a time frame for when production at the facility would resume.

“We are working methodically through the stages in the restart process with safety and stability foremost in mind,” the spokeswoman said, describing the problem as a “process trip.”

In the past year, Shell has wrestled with disruptions at Prelude FLNG, a 3.6 million tonnes a year facility. Production was last suspended in December after a small fire broke out. LNG cargo shipments resumed nearly a month later.

That came after production and shipments were disrupted from July to September last year due to work bans by unions seeking better pay.

In December 2021, Prelude lost all power and was shut for four months after a fire.