ASCO Group has been awarded a contract to manage the operations and maintenance logistics and supply base for Shell’s Prelude FLNG facility, in Browse Basin, Northern Territory, Australia.
The contract award is an important step in the development of the FLNG project, which will produce 5.3 million tpy of LNG, LPG and condensate.
Logistics centre
The Prelude project’s Darwin Onshore Supply Base is located within the East Arm Logistics Precinct opposite ASCO’s own logistics centre, 2 km from the ASCO managed Marine Supply Base at Darwin Port from where equipment and supplies will be loaded onto vessels for transport to the Prelude facility.
ASCO Australasia CEO, Matt Thomas, explained that ASCO would handle Prelude’s operations and maintenance logistics requirements, including management of Shell’s Darwin Onshore Supply Base, road and airfreight transport of inventory within Australia, and supply vessel support to the facility through the dedicated Darwin Marine Supply Base.
Supply base
The Onshore Supply Base comprises:
- 6500 m2 of warehouse, 1500 m2 of which is climate-controlled storage.
- 3 hectares of work and storage yards.
- Office facilities to support base operations.
Thomas added: “In a highly cost-conscious environment, suppliers such as ASCO need to deliver innovation and improvements across the entire supply chain. The best way to achieve that is by tackling issues and solving problems together.
“From the outset of negotiations we chose to adopt an open and transparent approach to the way we do business with Shell. We set out to work with them as a partner and in this sense we intend to operate more like a department within their organisation rather than a contractor.”
Indigenous employment
ASCO is committed to supporting Northern Territory businesses and workforce development, including indigenous employment.
“We recognise the importance of Shell’s activities to the Australian, Northern Territory and Western Australian economies and will support local employment and skills development wherever possible,” Thomas continued.
Adapted from press release by Katie Woodward