An expert, independent of government and industry, explains how prolonged industrial activity on the Burrup Peninsula in WA endangers an Australian marvel.
Shell, Exxon and Chevron are big players in Australian oil and gas and being forced to decarbonise sooner will affect their local operations, with a possible king hit to Prelude.
Shell's production of millions of tonnes of carbon emissions by burning excess gas at Prelude LNG 400km off the WA coast will no longer go unnoticed, with satellites now tracking flaring across the globe.
WA's industrial greenhouse gas emissions are dominated by four products and a handful of companies, including a few that have managed to keep a low profile in the climate wars.
Shell's accountants predict the Dutch giant will never pay Australia for gas consumed at the Gorgon and Prelude LNG projects that it can sell for up to about $4 billion a year.
A year after Inpex rejected carbon capture and storage at Ichthys LNG as unaffordable it is an essential element in its new drive to slash emissions by 2030.
Shell's Prelude floating LNG has stumbled on the road back to production after a failed seal caused subsea wells to be shut-in days after they were opened.
The wells are open and safety inspectors arriving as Shell looks to recommence LNG production from its problematic Prelude floating LNG vessel off the WA coast.
Inpex thinks the value of Prelude floating LNG has dropped 37% this year, joining the queue of companies seeing much less value in Australia's LNG future.
Shell has followed BP in thinking its oil and gas assets are now worth much less in a post-COVID more climate-aware world and Prelude LNG is a big contributor to the value destruction.
Shell's giant $US17B Prelude floating LNG is late, expensive, dirty and so far unreliable. An exclusive look at how a failed investment for Shell is a terrible deal for Australia.
Shell's Prelude floating LNG will keep burning excess gas during a production shutdown of many months, adding to its already high initial carbon footprint.
