TechnipFMC vessel ready to start Prelude work off Australia

Construction vessel Deep Orient, owned by the UK-based LNG-engineer TechnipFMC, is ready to begin work on Shell’s Prelude floating liquefied natural gas project offshore Western Australia.

TechnipFMC on Thursday said in a brief statement through its social media channels that the Deep Orient was ready to go to work on Shell’s Prelude FLNG, claimed to be the world’s largest offshore facility.

“We’re proud to work on this project to realize new possibilities for oil and gas,” the company said.

French Technip won a subsea contract by the Hague-based LNG giant Shell for the Prelude project back in 2012, prior to its merger with FMC Technologies.

Among other, the contract includes the management of key interfaces with the hook-up and commissioning of the FLNG facility.

The Deep Orient will be involved in connecting the Prelude FLNG to the mooring lines once the facility reaches its final destination at the Prelude gas field, 475 kilometers northeast of Broome.

To remind, the FLNG left the Samsung Heavy Industries’ Geoje shipyard in South Korea at the end of June and is expected to arrive at the Prelude field around July 30.

It is currently located in the Moluccan Sea, bordered by the Indonesian Islands of Celebes, Halmahera and the Sula Islands, according to the marine data provider VesselsValue.

Once Prelude reaches its final destination at the Prelude gas field, work will start to plug it into the undersea infrastructure.

Towing vessels will keep the facility in place as 16 pre-laid mooring chains are lifted from the seabed and attached to Prelude’s 93-metre high turret, Shell said previously.

Because Prelude sits in an area of cyclones and strong ocean movements, the turret will allow the facility to pivot safely with the prevailing current and the wind. Once operational, this ability to act like a weathervane means Prelude can ride out storms without having to disconnect the flexible pipelines that feed in gas from deep below the waves.

The Prelude FLNG is expected to stay moored at the Prelude gas field for 25 years and to produce 3.6 mtpa of LNG, 1.3 mtpa of condensate and 0.4 mtpa of LPG for export.

LNG World News Staff