Shell To Build The World's First Ever Floating LNG Plant
From Oil Price
For more than a decade the natural gas industry has been looking for a way to move LNG onto barges at sea in order to avoid the escalating costs of onshore plants. Royal Dutch Shell has just taken the first step to realising that goal by placing an order for the first ever floating LNG plant.
The vessel, called Prelude, will be the largest in the world, weighing six times more than the largest aircraft carrier, and measuring more in length than the Empire State building is in height. The huge ship will be built in Korea and then moved to the north-west coast of Australia, where it will provide a cheaper option to onshore LNG plants there. The project is expected to cost Shell around $13 billion, but that is far less than the $20 billion that it costs to typically build an onshore facility.
