ROYAL Dutch Shell has approved its world-first Prelude floating LNG project off Western Australia at an estimated capital cost of up to $US12.6 billion ($11.8bn), in a move that will allow it to access major gas deposits stranded hundreds of kilometres from the WA coast.
The Anglo-Dutch giant said in Perth yesterday that it had given final invesment approval for the revolutionary project, which will mark the first time a floating LNG vessel has been deployed to produce gas and liquefy it on board by cooling.
More than $200bn worth of LNG projects are on the drawing board in Australia, which is expected to become the world's second-biggest global exporter of the cleaner burning fuel by 2020.
Approval for the Prelude project comes as the LNG sector faces an investment boom.
US energy giant Chevron, Japan's Inpex and Perth-based Woodside Petroleum are all close to signing off on multi-billion-dollar developments in Australia.
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