Floating LNG plans sink

摘要

Shell and other leading LNG producers have long touted floating LNG (FLNG) as a game-changing option for developing offshore natural gas reserves that might otherwise be stranded. But the shelving of the 11.7mn t/yr Browse FLNG project in Australia and Indonesia’s rejection of a floating concept for the 7.5mn t/yr Abadi project have cast doubt on whether the technology will live up to its potential. Shell holds non-operating stakes in Browse and Abadi. The firm’s 3.6mn t/yr Prelude project in Australia’s Browse basin will be the world’s largest FLNG development when it comes on stream in 2017-18. But lower oil prices and an LNG supply glut are weighing on the economics of the next tranche of planned FLNG projects. Browse operator Australian independent Woodside Petroleum hinted in February that it was struggling to convince Asian buyers to commit to long-term contracts to support the project’s estimated $30bn cost.