Prelude to produce first gas in 2016

Global petroleum company Shell expects to start production at its Prelude floating liquefied gas project, off the Kimberley coast, in 2016 with a final investment decision scheduled for 2011.

The target date was revealed in Shell's environmental impact statement, which has been released to the public.

It comes less than a week after Shell decided to proceed with specific engineering work for the floating LNG vessel technology for the Prelude project, in what will be the first use of the application for the company.

The FLNG vessel will be the largest in the world, weighing in at 600,000 tonnes and about two-and-a-half times the size of the WACA oval.

In its EIS, Shell said it estimates the project to have a life of 25 years, with the FLNG project to produce 3.6 million tonnes of LNG, 1.3mt of condensate and 0.4mt of liquefied petroleum gas each year.

A FID is scheduled for early 2011.

"From the FID it will take approximately five years for the FLNG facility to be constructed and then towed to location," Shell said.

"Whilst the facility is being built, the subsea production wells will be drilled and the infrastructure installed in time to supply gas to the FLNG facility on its arrival at the field."

Shell added that the development drilling program is expected to take two years, starting in 2013.

Commissioning is scheduled for 2015.