Royal Dutch Shell has left the door open for progress on the Browse floating LNG project despite the rout in oil markets, but warned that it would need to be economical at oil prices of less than $US50 a barrel to go ahead.
The rout in oil prices over the past 18 months has driven Shell to delay a final investment on LNG Canada, where Shell is partnered by powerful LNG buyers Korea Gas Corporation and PetroChina, until the end of 2016. A project in deep water off Nigeria has been pushed back into 2017 and a gas project in the Middle East has been cancelled, but Browse in Western Australia remains on the list of possible final investment decisions for this year, Shell said in its December quarter briefing. The Browse partners, led by Woodside Petroleum, are working to reduce development costs ahead of a final investment decision targeted for later this year. But the task ahead is significant, with Shell chief executive Ben van Beurden cautioning that new projects need to be commercial at less than $US50 a barrel to get the green light.
 

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