Royal Dutch Shell has secured approval from Australia’s National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) for the development of the Crux gas field, offshore Western Australia.
The company’s subsidiary Shell Australia submitted an offshore project proposal (OPP) to the Australian regulator in 2018.
The Crux gas field, which is located in the Browse Basin will be developed by the drilling of five production wells. The field’s platform will be connected to the Shell-operated Prelude Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) facility through a 165km long export pipeline.
The offshore field has been identified by Shell Australia as the main source of backfill gas supply to the Prelude FLNG facility.
NOPSEMA stated: “Today’s announcement follows a thorough and careful assessment process of almost two years. In line with statutory timeframes, this has included a public comment process and consideration of all feedback.”
The Crux development project continues to be subject to other regulatory approvals, which includes an environment approval, and approvals of a well operations management plan and facility safety case.
All the necessary regulatory approvals have to be secured by Shell Australia before it can begin the field development project, said NOPSEMA.
Crux gas field to produce around 2.9Mtpa
Located in the northern Browse Basin, 160km off the north coast of Western Australia and 620km north-east of Broome, the Crux gas field is estimated to yield nearly 2.9 million tonnes of gas per annum (Mtpa) through a not normally manned (NNM) platform.
The Crux platform is planned to be remotely operated from the Prelude FLNG facility and would need only periodic maintenance visits, according to Shell Australia.
In February 2019, Wood and KBR were awarded an integrated front-end engineering design (FEED) contract for the construction of the NNM platform and gas export pipeline that will be part of the Crux project. The NNM platform will include dry trees, processing facilities, and related utility systems.
Shell Australia is partnered in the Crux gas field by Japan-based Osaka Gas Group and Australian oil and gas company SGH Energy.
