Bonaparte FLNG Terminal

Part of the Global Gas Infrastructure Tracker, a Global Energy Monitor project.

Download full dataset

Report an error

Bonaparte FLNG Terminal, also known as Prelude, is a cancelled (inferred 4 y) LNG export terminal in Australia.

Location

Table 1: Location details

Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Bonaparte FLNG Terminal	Bonaparte Island, Western Australia, Australia	-14.855412, 124.768939 (approximate)

The map below shows the approximate location of the terminal:

Loading map...

{"type":"ROADMAP","minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"types":["ROADMAP","SATELLITE","HYBRID","TERRAIN"],"mappingservice":"googlemaps3","width":"600px","height":"500px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"visitedicon":"","wmsoverlay":false,"zoom":7,"layers":[],"controls":["pan","zoom","type","scale","streetview","rotate"],"zoomstyle":"DEFAULT","typestyle":"DEFAULT","autoinfowindows":false,"resizable":false,"kmlrezoom":false,"poi":true,"cluster":false,"clustergridsize":60,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clusteraveragecenter":true,"clusterminsize":2,"imageoverlays":[],"kml":[],"gkml":[],"searchmarkers":"","fullscreen":false,"scrollwheelzoom":false,"locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":"","lat":-14.855412,"lon":124.768939,"icon":"","inlineLabel":"Bonaparte FLNG Terminal (base project)\n"}]}

Project Details

Table 2: Infrastructure details

mtpa = million tonnes per year

Name	Facility type	Status	Capacity	Total terminal capacity	Offshore	Associated infrastructure
Bonaparte FLNG Terminal	export	cancelled (inferred 4 y)	2 mtpa	2.0 mtpa	True	Petrel, Tern and Frigate gas fields

Table 3: Cost

Name	Facility type	Cost	Total known terminal costs
Bonaparte FLNG Terminal	export	–	–

Financing

No financing data available.

Table 4: Project timeline

FID = Final Investment Decision, used by some developers to indicate a project will move forward

Name	Facility type	Status	Proposal year	FID year	Construction year	Operating year	Inactive year
Bonaparte FLNG Terminal	export	cancelled (inferred 4 y)	–	–	–	–	2024 (cancelled)

Ownership

Table 5: Ownership

Name	Facility type	Status	Owners	Parent companies	Operator
Bonaparte FLNG Terminal	export	cancelled (inferred 4 y)	ENGIE SA [60%]; Santos [40%]	ENGIE SA [60.0%]; Santos [40.0%]	–

Background

Bonaparte FLNG Terminal is a proposed floating LNG terminal in Western Australia. Plans for building Bonaparte LNG coincided with the development and production of Petrel, Tern and Frigate gas fields in the Bonaparte basin in the Timor Sea. The Bonaparte basin one of the main natural gas-producing regions in Australia.

In June 14, 2014 Bonaparte LNG announced it would likely drop plans for a floating facility that would ship gas back to land from the Bonaparte basin and instead opt for a more traditional pipeline from Bonaparte LNG approximately (155 miles (250 kilometers) inland to onshore on the town of Darwin.

On June 27, 2014, Upstream Online reported "GDF Suez has pulled the plug on the planned ­Bonaparte floating liquefied natural gas project in Australia, at least for the time being."

Reuters reported in 2017 about the general trend for cheaper alternatives to FLNG. FLNG were popular in the early 2010s when gas demand and prices rose, and before the US shale boom pushed down gas prices. Approximately 8.6 billion cubic feet per day of U.S. gas is estimated to enter the market by 2020. FLNGs also face massive costs of building a tanker that is a fraction of the size of onshore facilities.

Santos Bonaparte LNG is one of several an upstream owners of Darwin LNG Terminal.

As of 2017, Australia is the second largest LNG exporter after Qatar. The country exports almost 44 million tons a year.

In February 2018 it was reported that Santos was considering exporting Bonaparte Basin gas through the Darwin terminal. With no progress since 2014, the Bonaparte FLNG Terminal appeared to be cancelled.

In December 2019, oil and gas today reported that the facility received an "environmental green light."

With no project updates in over four years, the project was inferred to be cancelled in 2024.

Articles and Resources

Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of LNG terminals, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Gas Infrastructure Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.