Prelude Loads First Tanker Since Output Suspension

The first liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker to berth at Shell's Prelude floating LNG site off Western Australia since it was shut down after a fire has begun loading, Refinitiv data shows.

The Methane Becki Anne vessel berthed at the Prelude plant on Jan. 17, Refinitiv ship-tracking data showed.

Gas production at the 3.6 million tonne Prelude facility had been suspended in mid-December after a small fire. At the time, Shell gave no timeline for when the plant would resume output but said the fire was much less serious than one that shut Prelude a year ago.

A Shell spokeswoman on Tuesday said there were no updates.

Prelude's floating LNG vessel, the world's largest, previously suffered a four-month shutdown because of a power failure in December 2021. Production was disrupted again in July last year by a workers strike, with output resuming in September

(Reuters - Reporting by Emily ChowEditing by David Goodman)