The National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) of Australia has approved the offshore project proposal for the Crux gas project in the northern Browse Basin, in northwestern Australia. The current project includes five production wells, a 165 km-long export pipeline connecting the production platform to the Prelude FLNG facility and the subsea integration system.
The Crux gas project is owned by Shell, Osaka Gas and a unit of Seven Group Holdings. Its reserves are estimated at 2 Tcf (57 bcm) of gas and 70 mbl of condensate. The project would be developed to supply backfill gas (LNG, LPG and condensate) to the 3.6 Mt/year (or 4.8 bcm/year) Prelude Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (Prelude FLNG) off Western Australia, which reached full operation capacity in 2019. In April 2020, Shell and its partners postponed the final investment decision (FID) for the Crux gas project . The FID was initially expected in 2020, with the construction of offshore installations (platform and gas pipeline to the Prelude FLNG) starting in 2020 and operations in 2025. However, the fall in oil prices, declining markets and the global economic downturn have prompted partners to delay the project.