Newswire — Oil and gas supermajor Shell and its joint venture partner SGH Energy have taken a final investment decision to approve the development of the Crux natural gas field, off the coast of Western Australia.
Crux will provide further supplies of natural gas to the existing Prelude floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility.
“This project forms an important part of Shell’s integrated gas portfolio,” said Wael Sawan, Integrated Gas, Renewables and Energy Solutions Director at Shell. “Natural gas from Crux will play a key role in helping Asian customers move from coal to gas as a cleaner-burning fuel. The project will help us to meet the increasing demand for LNG as the energy market transitions to a lower carbon future.
“The project will also boost our customers’ security of supply, which is becoming an ever more significant consideration for global consumers,” Sawan added.
“Developing the Crux project reinforces our commitment to Australia, including boosting the regional economy, creating jobs, and providing training opportunities,” said Shell Australia Chair Tony Nunan. “The use of Prelude’s existing infrastructure enables significantly reduced development costs, making Crux competitive and commercially attractive.”
The Crux field is in Commonwealth marine waters in the northern Browse Basin, 385 north-east of Broome. The development will consist of a platform operated remotely from Prelude. Five wells will be drilled initially, and an export pipeline will connect the platform to Prelude, which is around 100 miles to the southwest of Crux.
According to Shell’s announcement on Monday, construction will start in 2022, and first gas is expected in 2027.
The supermajor added that it believes that global LNG demand is expected to continue to grow significantly. It further claimed that Asia was expected to create a significant part of this increased demand as domestic gas production declines, regional economies grow, and energy sources with higher CO2 emissions are replaced with LNG, helping to tackle concerns over air quality and to help progress towards carbon emissions targets.
“Natural gas has a critical role for many decades to come and plays an important role in the energy transition, enabling the decarbonization of markets and sectors, both in Australia and internationally,” Shell said.
As for Crux, the project has been granted a production license by the National Offshore Petroleum Titles Administrator and the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority of Australia accepted the Crux Offshore Project Proposal.
Crux will have the capacity to supply the Prelude FLNG facility with up to 550 million standard cubic feet of gas per day.
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