Designed and constructed by Decmil, the base consists of a 6500 square metre warehouse that includes climate controlled storage and office facilities to support base operations. It also boasts of work and storage yards specifically designed to house a range of spare parts and equipment to support Prelude.
"The Darwin Offshore Supply Base is a vital hub for Prelude, playing a critical role in the ongoing operations and maintenance of the facility," Shell Australia country chair Andrew Smith said at the opening ceremony.
The base will also create employment opportunities targeted at disadvantaged people in the Northern Territory through a joint training program between Shell, the NT government, Charles Darwin University and Group Training NT.
"The Prelude to the Future program will employ 20 Territorians as auto-mechanic apprentices through Group Training NT and support their training through Charles Darwin University," NT Chief Minister Adam Giles said.
"The program also includes six weeks work experience and ongoing mentoring for 18 months.
"Automotive mechanics are identified as a skills shortage area in the Territory.
"Given that this is an occupation that underpins the delivery of most major project activities, it is expected that the occupation will be subject to increased demand in coming years."
Shell and the NT government have each invested $400,000 to fund the training program.
Eligible applicants include Indigenous Territorians, minority groups, the long-term unemployed, people experiencing financial hardship, trade assistants seeking to obtain higher skills and school leavers.
The first Prelude spare parts are due to arrive at the supply base in coming weeks.
Prelude is a JV between Shell (67.5%), Inpex (17.5%), Taiwan's CPC Corporation (5%) and Kogas (10%).
It is expected to be the world's first commercial FLNG development and will allow Shell and its JV partners to access offshore gas fields that would otherwise be too costly or difficult to develop.
The project is expected to bring national benefits of around $12 billion in taxation revenues, $45 billion in GDP, create 350 direct and 650 indirect jobs and more than $18 billion worth of LNG, LPG and condensate exports.
The Prelude FLNG facility will be 488 metres long, 74m wide and will displace around 600,000 tonnes of water.
It will be the largest floating offshore facility in the world.
The Prelude FLNG facility is being built at Samsung Heavy Industries' Geoje Island ship yards in South Korea, one of the few yards in the world big enough to construct a facility of this size.
Once constructed, the facility will be towed to its location, some 475 kilometres northeast of Broome, Western Australia and is designed to remain on station for around 20-25 years before needing to dock for inspection and overhaul.
Once operational, the Prelude FLNG facility will produce at least 5.3 million tonnes per annum of liquids: 3.6 Mtpa of LNG, 1.3 Mtpa of condensate and 0.4 Mtpa of LPG.
