ASCO to manage Prelude FLNG supply base (Australia)

ASCO Group has won a contract to manage the operations and maintenance logistics and supply base in Australia for Shell’s floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility, which will be located in the Prelude gas field in the Browse Basin, situated approximately 800 kilometres west of Darwin, Northern Territory.

The Prelude project’s Darwin Onshore Supply Base is located within the East Arm Logistics Precinct opposite ASCO’s own logistics centre, and 2km from the ASCO managed Marine Supply Base at Darwin Port from where equipment and supplies will be loaded onto vessels for the trip to the Prelude facility.

ASCO Australasia CEO, Matt Thomas, said ASCO would handle Prelude’s operations and maintenance logistics requirements, including management of Shell’s Darwin Onshore Supply Base, road and airfreight transport of inventory within Australia, and supply vessel support to the facility through the dedicated Darwin Marine Supply Base.

The Prelude project’s Darwin Onshore Supply Base comprises:

• 6,500 square metres of warehouse
• 1,500sqm of which is climate-controlled storage
• 3 hectares of work and storage yards
• office facilities to support base operations

Thomas said ASCO had significant experience working with Shell internationally and would leverage its global knowledge to deliver efficiency and innovation across the integrated supply chain.

“In a highly cost-conscious environment, suppliers such as ASCO need to deliver innovation and improvements across the entire supply chain,” Thomas said. “The best way to achieve that is by tackling issues and solving problems together.

“From the outset of negotiations we chose to adopt an open and transparent approach to the way we do business with Shell. We set out to work with them as a partner and in this sense we intend to operate more like a department within their organisation rather than a contractor.”

Thomas said ASCO was committed to supporting Northern Territory businesses and workforce development, including indigenous employment.

“We recognise the importance of Shell’s activities to the Australian, Northern Territory and Western Australian economies and will support local employment and skills development wherever possible.”

The Prelude win follows the announcement in February that ASCO had been awarded the contract to manage the supply base for BP’s upcoming exploration program in the Great Australian Bight.