Reuters are reporting that Royal Dutch Shell has introduced gas to its 490 m long Prelude FLNG unit as part of the cooling process before start-up.
Gas was fed to the unit from LNG carrier Gallina. Thomson Reuters Eikon shiptracking data shows that the vessel left Prelude FLNG port on 7 June.
“This will cool down the tanks and process equipment and pipework with gas and is an opportunity to test processes and systems before the subsea wells are opened at start-up,” a spokeswoman said.
Shell and Inpex Corp, Japan’s biggest oil and gas producer, are vying for first gas from two overlapping fields from offshore northern Australia, where both have spent billions of dollars building the world’s biggest maritime vessels to grab a slice of Asia’s booming LNG market.