石油设备网讯 据天然气工业6月11日消息称，荷兰皇家壳牌公司周一将其期待已久的第一批液化天然气货物从其位于澳大利亚西北部的Prelude浮式液化天然气工厂运出，从而巩固了该国作为全球最大液化天然气出口国的地位。
Prelude的启动标志着澳大利亚过去10年2000亿美元液化天然气建设热潮的结束。过去10年，澳大利亚在东部和西北部沿海建设了8座液化天然气工厂。
Prelude的首批货物原定于2018年交货，但由于该公司处理了这艘全球最大的浮动船舶一系列初期问题而推迟交货。这艘长490米(1600英尺)的船比四个足球场还长，有六艘大型航空母舰那么大。
壳牌公司拒绝评论Prelude成本多少，但咨询公司Wood Mackenzie估计成本在170亿美元左右。
壳牌的综合天然气和新能源总监Maarten Wetselaar在一份声明中表示：“今天的第一批液化天然气从Prelude FLNG安全出发。”
壳牌表示，瓦伦西亚克努森液化天然气油轮的货物将运往亚洲客户。
Prelude每年将生产360万吨液化天然气、130万吨凝析油和40万吨液化石油气。
该公司成立之际，液化天然气现货价格已跌至逾三年低点，澳大利亚和美国的新项目提振了全球供应，而亚洲的需求则受到暖冬的影响。
从这艘船第一次停在为它提供燃料的油田上开始，它花了两年时间来运送第一批液化天然气货物。
曹海斌 摘译自 天然气工业
原文如下：
Shell ships long-awaited first LNG cargo from Australia's Prelude
Royal Dutch Shell on Monday shipped the long-awaited first cargo of liquefied natural gas from its massive Prelude floating LNG plant off northwest Australia, sealing the nation’s position as the world’s top exporter of the fuel.
Prelude’s start-up marks the end of a $200 billion LNG construction boom in Australia over the past decade, during which eight LNG plants were built on the country’s eastern and northwestern coasts.
Prelude’s first cargo had been targeted for 2018, but was delayed as the company tackled a string of teething problems at the world’s biggest floating vessel. The 490-metre long (1,600 ft) ship is longer than four soccer fields and as big as six large aircraft carriers.
Shell declined to comment on how much Prelude cost, but consultancy Wood Mackenzie estimates around $17 billion.
“Today’s first shipment of LNG departed from Prelude FLNG, safely,” Shell’s integrated gas and new energies director, Maarten Wetselaar, said in a statement.
The shipment on the Valencia Knutsen LNG tanker is going to customers in Asia, Shell said.
Prelude will produce 3.6 million tonnes a year of LNG, 1.3 million tonnes a year of condensate and 400,000 tonnes a year of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
The start-up comes just as spot LNG prices have sunk to more than three-year lows, with new projects in Australia and the United States boosting global supply while demand in Asia was dented by a mild winter.
It took two years from the time the vessel was first parked on top of the fields that feed it to ship the first LNG cargo.
