Australia's Woodside Petroleum announced that it will recommend using Shell's floating LNG (FLNG) technology to develop and commercialize the Browse gas fields.
Selecting FLNG as the development concept requires the approval from the joint venture before progressing through to the design phase.
In April, Woodside announced it would not proceed with an onshore development at James Price Point in northwestern Australia, saying that the concept did not meet its commercial requirements for a positive final investment decision. Prior to backing FLNG, Woodside said it had considered other development concepts including a pipeline to existing facilities in the Pilbara and a modified option in the Kimberley.
Woodside is the operator of the East and West Browse joint ventures. It holds a 34% equity interest in the East Browse joint venture and a 17% equity interest in the West Browse joint venture. Its partners include Shell, BP, Japan Australia LNG (MIMI Browse) Pty Ltd, and PetroChina International Investment (Australia), which recently picked up BHP Billiton's 8.33% interest in the East Browse Joint Venture and 20% interest in the West Browse Joint Venture.
