Shell does not expect to resume full production at the Prelude floating liquified natural gas (FLNG) vessel offshore Western Australia before the end of the year.
The company reinforced that its focus at Prelude is on delivering sustained performance over the long term.
“We continue to work through the process for hydrocarbon restart of Shell’s Prelude FLNG facility, with safety and stability foremost in mind,” a Shell spokesperson said.
Shell suspended production at Prelude FLNG in February after its reserve power generation failed because of an electrical trip.
The company reported that due to technical issues there was a delay in starting up the back-up diesel generators, which impacted certain amenities on board.
At the time of the incident, the company decided to temporarily reduce the number of people on board.
Workers from Monadelphous are currently undertaking engineering and construction work to bring the Prelude FLNG back online.
Monadelphous was awarded a $200 million maintenance service contract at Prelude in 2015. Last month, Monadelphous’ contract workers at Prelude went on strike amid negotiations for a new enterprise agreement.
The contractor had been working with members of its offshore oil and gas workforce and their representatives since December 2019 to negotiate a new enterprise agreement. The current agreement expired in April 2020.
“We are disappointed we have not been able to reach an agreement to date, however we will continue to work with our employees and their representatives in order to achieve an agreement which is fair, reasonable and aligned to current market conditions,” a Monadelphous spokesperson said.
Shell responded to the strike action by stating that the company valued its contractor workforce.