Singapore — Shell's first condensate cargo from the Prelude FLNG project in Australia has been delayed further from its original February load date and possibly to March, due to production issues, trade sources said Friday. Receive daily email alerts, subscriber notes & personalize your experience. Shell did not immediately respond to an email query seeking comment. The first Prelude condensate cargo was originally scheduled to load over January 31-February 2, shipping reports showed at the start of January. Later reports subsequently showed this was delayed to February 12-14, and then to February 24-26. The Aframax vessel Kriti Verano was initially chartered by Shell to load the cargo over February 24-26. However, shipbrokers said that cargo has now been withdrawn. Latest reports show the vessel Kriti Verano has been fixed by another charterer and no new chartering inquiry was heard for Prelude. "It keeps moving because of production [issues] I think. But Shell did not give a real reason to the market," one source said. Trade sources have previously said that the oil major will likely use the cargo within its own network of splitters and refineries. LPG sources also noted that the first LPG cargo from the project was originally scheduled to load in March. This was now heard to have been delayed indefinitely. Prelude FLNG was one of the most anticipated LNG projects in recent years due to the deployment of the world's largest floating facility, with a production capacity of 3.6 million mt/year of LNG, 1.3 million mt/year of condensate and 0.4 million mt/year of LPG. The facility, located 475 kilometers north-northeast of Broome in Western Australia, is operated by Shell with a 67.5% stake, Japanese explorer INPEX holding a 17.5% stake, South Korea's KOGAS 10% and Taiwan's CPC Corp. 5%. --Andrew Toh, andrew.toh@spglobal.com --Wanda Wang, wanda.wang@spglobal.com --Edited by Liz Thang, elizabeth.thang@spglobal.com
The world's largest floating facility, LPG’s Australian floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) project, Prelude, has been forced to delay its initial condensate cargo. The hold up is reportedly due to production issues, although this has not been officially confirmed by LPG. The cargo had an original load date of 31 January-2 February, according to shipping reports, which was subsequently changed to 12-14 February, then to 24-26 February, and now appears to have been paused indefinitely. Prelude has LNG production capacity of 3.6 million mt/year, condensate production capacity of 1.3 million mt/year and 0.4 million mt/year of Shell capacity.