Australia's National Offshore Petroleum Titles Administrator has offered the Shell-led Crux joint venture a five-year retention lease for production license AC/L9, located off the country's northwest coast.
"The Crux JV will now review the attached conditions to the retention lease offer and has upto 30 days to formally accept it," Australia-listed Nexus Energy, which holds a 15% stake in the JV, said Wednesday.
Shell has an 82% stake in the JV, with Japan's Osaka Gas holding the remaining 3%. The AC/L9 permit contains the Crux field and the Auriga and Caelum prospects.
Further updates with details regarding the attached conditions will be provided upon completion of the acceptance process, Nexus said.
"The offer of the retention lease by the joint authority is a significant milestone towards unlocking the value of our investment in Crux through the earlier possible commercialization of the Crux field," Lucio Della Martina, managing director and CEO of Crux, said in the statement.
The detailed work program and associated defined timelines for the project include technical studies of a range of development options, including a standalone development concept, and exploration drilling of the Auriga prospect targeted for early 2014, Nexus said.
Shell, Nexus and Osaka Gas have been exploring potential development options for Crux, including a stand-alone floating LNG facility, which could also process third-party gas.
Other options are an early liquids recycling project, followed by gas processing at Shell's nearby Prelude floating LNG facility, or developing Crux as "backfill" gas for Prelude. The 3.6 million mt/year Prelude FLNG facility is expected to start up in 2017.
