Posts under ‘Peter Milne’

WAtoday

Shell’s Prelude gas ship hit by safety, crewing and industrial problems

By Peter Milne: June 10, 2022 — 5.00am

Shell is running its $23 billion Prelude floating LNG plant with critical positions filled by crew who are not fully qualified, and more than 200 safety alarms out of action, ahead of industrial action due to start on Friday.

Gas exports recommenced from the world’s largest floating vessel just two months ago after it was shut down for four months following a complete power failure in December that the offshore safety regulator said could have led to a “catastrophic failure”. read more

Shell to develop Crux project in Western Australia

May 30, 2022

Shell Australia Pty Ltd (Shell Australia) 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.”

“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, 620 kilometres 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 160 kilometres to the south-west of Crux. read more

The Sydney Morning Herald

Shell, Seven Group invest $3.5b in Crux gas for Prelude as unions take action

By Peter Milne: May 30, 2022 — 4.37pm

Shell and Seven Group have sanctioned the $US2.5 billion ($3.5 billion) Crux gas field off Western Australia’s Kimberley coast to supply the world’s largest vessel – Shell’s Prelude floating LNG plant – on the same day unions gave notice of industrial action.

The announcement comes one week into the prime ministership of Anthony Albanese, who said he wants to be remembered for action on climate and is under pressure from the Greens to stop all new fossil fuel projects.

Wood Mackenzie analyst Michael Song said without Crux, before 2030 the 488 metre-long Prelude would not have sufficient gas to operate at full capacity.

Prelude was meant to be the world’s first floating LNG plant and a prototype for Shell to deploy globally to develop gas in remote areas that would otherwise be stranded.

Shell initially planned to tap the nearby Concerto field after the initial Prelude reservoir was drained, but later analysis showed Concerto would be less productive than expected, forcing Shell to source gas from Crux, 160 kilometres away.

Construction of Crux will start this year with the first gas from an unmanned platform with five wells expected to flow in 2027.

The disappointing Concerto reservoir is another setback for a project that has fallen well short of most metrics that determine a successful project. read more

Email from John Donovan to Mr Andy Hacking, Branch President Australian Workers Union.

Dear Mr Hacking

I am writing to you in your capacity as AWU WA branch Secretary and spokesman for the Offshore Alliance representing many Shell Prelude FLNG workers.

As you will be aware Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is driving natural gas prices ever higher amid a potential shortage of gas in many markets. 

Will the energy crisis cause reckless employers like Shell to endanger the lives of their workers, some of whom, as I have already mentioned, are your members?

There does seem to be a recipe for potential disaster arising from the controversial Prelude project – a risky experiment that has already survived a series of extremely dangerous close calls ending in a shutdown – being restarted prematurely, driven by greed to take advantage of a crisis situation. 

I pose this question in view of the publication of recent articles starting with one published by my website, royaldutchshellplc.com in collaboration with Bill Campbell, the retired HSE Group Auditor of Shell International. 

Please glance through our recent article:

The Hindenburg, The Titanic and Shell Prelude FLNG

SUCH ARTICLES GIVE CAUSE FOR CONCERN IF EXPERT WARNINGS TO THE AUTHORITIES HAVE NOT BEEN GIVEN THE CONSIDERATION THEY DESERVE? FURTHER INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE ON REQUEST. EXTENSIVE TROUBLING INFORMATION HAS BEEN SUPPLIED TO THE WESTERN AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT AND NOPSEMA. I DOUBT THAT ANY OTHER VENTURE HAS HAD SO MANY WARNINGS OVER MANY YEARS. IF GOD FORBID, THERE IS A DISASTROUS EVENT, ALL OF THE WARNINGS WILL BE SCRUTINISED IN AN INEVITABLE PUBLIC ENQUIRY.  

I am sure Mr Campbell would be happy to answer any questions you may have in regards to the information he has supplied to various interested parties. read more

(The above comment is by John Donovan who challenges Shell to sue him if it disputes the accuracy of what is stated)

WA Today Article (Below)

No quick fix for Shell’s Prelude after December fire

By Peter Milne: February 7, 2022 — 3.40am

Shell is unlikely to return its troubled Prelude floating LNG vessel off the WA coast to production until late March, losing valuable revenue as LNG demand from gas-starved Europe soars.

Shell chief executive Ben van Beurden said the $24 billion vessel that suffered a complete power failure after a small fire on December 2 would be out of action for most of the March quarter. read more

Will Shell have to abandon the Prelude experiment?

From John Donovan: 8 Jan 2022

Dear Mr Andrew Smith

I am writing to you in your capacity as Country Chair of Shell Australia.

I have copied the email to Shell Legal Director Mr Donny Ching and Shell CEO Mr Ben van Beurden because the subject is a matter of great importance. Namely the lives and well-being of Shell employees and contractors working on the Prelude experiment. read more

By John Donovan

Printed below in italics is the content of an email sent earlier today to the Australian National Offshore Petroleum and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) by Bill Campbell, a retired senior Shell HSE expert and long-term Shell shareholder. Bill led Health, Safety and Environmental Audits for Shell worldwide. His credentials to comment on such specialist issues are impeccable.

Bill’s email to NOPSEMA is about an article published days ago by the Brisbane Times under the headline: Shell’s Prelude gas vessel faced ‘catastrophic failure’ from power outage. It was authored by a tenacious energy journalist Peter Milne who has been responsible for a series of revealing articles in recent years about the $24b Prelude vessel. read more

Brisbane Times

Shell’s Prelude gas vessel faced ‘catastrophic failure’ from power outage

By Peter Milne: January 5, 2022 

Power problems on Shell’s giant Prelude gas vessel in December with almost 300 workers on board risked the “catastrophic failure” of parts of the ship’s structure, according to a report by the offshore safety regulator.

While the crew off the WA coast battled in tropical heat without air conditioning or ventilation to restore power, the steel spine of the vessel was cooling towards a point where it could have lost the strength to support the 80,000 tonnes of gas processing equipment on top of the 488 metre-long vessel. read more

Expert comments relating to the Peter Milne article for WAtoday:

Shell ordered to shut down Prelude floating LNG until it is safe: 24 December 2021

Comment by Bill Campbell the retired HSE Group Auditor at Shell EP International

Actions by the Regulator should be welcomed.

Not surprisingly, it’s obvious and should be obvious to the keenest shellites that Prelude has serious design and operational problems raising workforce risk levels to unacceptable levels. You simply cannot continue to operate if you are unable to demonstrate through weekly testing that safety-critical equipment, fire pumps and emergency generators et al are available automatically and immediately when called on. This is a legal requirement and a commitment given by Shell in the installations Safety Case. read more

WAtoday

Shell ordered to shut down Prelude floating LNG until it is safe

By Peter Milne: December 24, 2021 — 10.52am

Australia’s offshore safety regulator has ordered Shell to shut down its giant Prelude floating LNG vessel off Western Australia’s North West coast while damning the company’s ability to operate the facility after it descended into chaos in early December following a series of power failures.

The direction from regulator NOPSEMA means Prelude, the biggest floating vessel ever built, will be shut down until Shell can convince them there will be no repeat of the recent dangerous episode. read more

WAtoday

How Shell lost control of its $24B Prelude floating gas factory

By Peter Milne: December 21, 2021 — 9.01pm

In early December a small fire on Shell’s 488-m Prelude gas facility off WA’s coast kicked off a cascade of failures that left about 250 workers, 475 km from Broome, without communications, lights, running water or access to helicopters.

With almost every system on Australia’s most complex offshore facility out of action workers scrambled to restart power that everything depended on, with at least two stretchered to the Prelude’s hospital with heat exhaustion. read more

Western Australia Today

Shell’s giant $24b Prelude LNG ship shut down after fire

By Peter Milne: December 3, 2021 — 1.14pm

A fire late Thursday night on Shell’s Prelude floating LNG vessel off the Kimberley coast caused production at the $24 billion giant to be shut down and left the crew using backup power.

A small fire was detected at about 11pm in an electrical equipment area on the world’s largest vessel that can accommodate more than 200 crew.

A Shell spokesman said the fire triggered automatic fire systems and was extinguished before it spread further and all workers were safe and accounted for. read more

Shell predicts free gas forever from Gorgon and Prelude LNG projects

by Peter Milne | Mar 31, 2021 | Energy & Environment

Shell’s accountants predict the Dutch giant will never pay Australia for gas extracted at the Gorgon and Prelude LNG projects that it can sell for up to about $4 billion a year. Peter Milne from independent energy and climate news site Boiling Cold has the story.

Dutch giant Shell forecasts it will never pay Australia for oil and gas extracted for the Gorgon and Prelude LNG projects that it can sell for up to almost $4 billion a year. read more

Expert comments received in response to the BoilingCold article by Peter Milne “No winners from Shell’s $US17B Prelude floating LNG”

Comment from retired Shell International Global Safety Consultant, Bill Campbell:

It’s all rather depressing, most worrying aspect as implied in the article is the potential gas supply, or lack of it, from the homogeneous and shared reservoir with another operator bleeding off volumes.

The boilingcold.com.au journalist Peter Milne has given the most detailed analysis yet of the Prelude story, elements of both tragedy and farce.

COMMENT FROM “AN OLD SHELL E&P ENGINEERING SEA DOG”

As before I feel very sorry for the Aussies who are under extreme pressure to get this unit up and running.  I do not quite understand the journalist comment of “gas is running out”.  It is a shared reservoir therefore there will be an agreement for the total volumes in place and a regular review taking place to determine the remaining producible volumes and the agreed volume share for each operator.

The links below are to a series of articles, many triggered by a well-placed whistleblower directly involved in the pioneering Royal Dutch Shell Prelude project. Includes articles by Mr Bill Campbell above, the retired distinguished HSE Group Auditor of Shell International and another retired Shell guru with a track record of spotting potential pitfalls in major Shell projects.

The fears voiced by Bill Campbell about a loss of containment (see article link 3) have proven well-founded.

Ask the Australian National Offshore Petroleum and Environmental Management Authority.

ARTICLE: Voser wisely abandons an unstable ship: 28 December 2013

ARTICLE: Royal Dutch Shell Prelude to disaster?: 10 Jan 2014

ARTICLE: Shell Prelude FLNG: loss of containment of hydrocarbons almost inevitable: 21 Feb 2014

ARTICLE: What should frighten stiff Royal Dutch Shell shareholders: 15 March 2014

ARTICLE: Tales of the Unexpected and Royal Dutch Shell Prelude FLNG: 28 March 2014

ARTICLE: Prelude FLNG: A case of all your eggs in the one basket: 10 July 2014

ARTICLE: Prelude FLNG risks are on par with modern offshore oil and gas facilities say Shell – but are they?: 23 Sept 2014 read more

  Peter Milne: 15 May 2020 • 10 min read

ANALYSIS

Shell’s Prelude floating LNG facility off the WA coast was to be the first of many that would open up stranded gas reserves around the world thanks to the technical and project management prowess of Anglo-Dutch oil and gas giant Shell.It has not turned out that way.When the 488m-long giant arrived in Australia almost three years ago, Shell expected to receive cashflow from the Prelude in 2018.

While the Prelude did export LNG at about half its capacity for the second half of 2019, it is now idle.

Moored far off the Kimberley coast it is plagued with technical problems, dwindling gas reserves and safety processes condemned by the regulator despite Shell and its partners spending about $US19.3 billion ($A30.0 billion) to the end of 2019.

Neither Shell and its partners nor Australia have gained anything near what they expected from the giant experiment. read more

The Prelude first received gas from its subsea wells in December 2018 and by the end of June 2019 had produced 2.32 million tonnes of greenhouse gases, according to emissions data released by the Clean Energy Regulator today.

Conservation Council of WA director Piers Verstegen said the emissions data was absolutely shocking and suggested that Shell was making no effort to reduce Prelude’s emissions. read more