Readers of EnergyNews will be well aware of the Prelude project and Shell's appetite to get more FLNG projects up and running in Australian waters.

In fact, every engagement by Shell's Australian boss, Ann Pickard, is accompanied by at least 10 journalists asking whether FLNG could be the way to go on the Browse project. Pickard and Woodside chief Peter Coleman's standard line is that the joint venture is locked into retention lease conditions to progress the project to a "certain decision point".

Shell and Woodside's rumoured move to take the Browse development offshore has certainly caused a lot of hand-wringing in Perth, with Premier Colin Barnett finding himself in the rather uncomfortable position of promoting a line of thinking put forward by the unions.

They point to Shell's fabrication of the Prelude facility in Korea as a sign of things to come.

Shell insists that Prelude will create higher-value technical and maintenance positions in Perth, but unions question whether these positions would be available in an onshore development anyhow.

The accusation being that Prelude is simply a way to strip out the costs, and jobs, from the construction phase of the project.

Although while Barnett is talking about potential jobs lost, his main opposition to the project more than likely stems from the loss of revenue to the state's coffers and domestic gas to the local market.

While that debate continues to rage, BHP and Exxon were forced to deny that the Scarborough field would be developed via a 7 million tonne per annum FLNG facility.

The option has been mooted for years, but Exxon had to come onto the public record to say that a final development plan had not yet been chosen after local press raised speculation that it had.

The development of the Scarborough and Thebe field, which has a potential resource of between 8Tcf and 10Tcf, would be ideally suited to an FLNG option as gas from the field has few condensates and little carbon dioxide to strip out.

Meaning that most of the facility can be dedicated for LNG production.

While it should be noted that Exxon has flatly denied that it would submit a development plan to environmental regulators this week, such a move would further confirm that FLNG is the way forward for offshore resources in Australia.

In fact, Pickard has gone as far to describe FLNG as the "saviour" of the gas industry in Australia and said that FLNG is an option for just about any offshore field in Australia.

Meanwhile on the other side of the country, FLNG was being given a boost from Canberra.

Post-the latest round of Labor bloodletting, special minister of state Gary Gray was made the new resources minister, replacing outgoing stalwart Martin Ferguson.

For those seeking to promote FLNG, the appointment is encouraging to say the least.

Gray, an ex-Woodside executive, has publically supported the development of FLNG in Australia.

"Australia is at a unique intersection in gas processing and also in the context of developing unconventional gas sources," Gray recently told The West Australian said. "Ten years ago we were having this conversation. The only global gas liquefaction technologies were onshore technologies

"That takes Australia to literally the technological cutting edge of the growth export industry on the planet, energy.

"That is a great future to have for our kids, it is a great future to have for our resources."

It could hardly be a more ringing endorsement from the new resources minister, although one suspects he wasn't entertaining ambitions of becoming resources minister quite so soon.

While the resources minister has no formal role in the environmental approvals process for any given project, he does have power over retention leases in Commonwealth waters.

Regardless, Gray's voice on the front bench would give the federal government even more reason to feel bullish on FLNG.

Federal environment minister Tony Burke has commented on a number of occasions now about just how "easy" the environmental approval process on Prelude was.

The WA state proposal for an LNG hub at James Price Point and the Woodside proposal for an LNG plant within that precinct are now before the minister, awaiting the final green tick.

While environmentalists attack Burke for having a penchant for approvals, a rejection of JPP may be just the poll boost Labor is looking for.

While it has formally ended its alliance with the Greens, the Labor fear is that the Greens could take some of the votes from the Labor left with them. To say Labor would be desperate to secure all the votes it could before the September election would be an understatement.

With Gray now in Burke's and prime minister Julia Gillard's ear, even more so than before, the ex-Woodside man may just deliver the final push needed for Woodside and Shell to propose an alternative development plan.

One which involves FLNG.

The, at least publically, the joint venture would be able to say that they did all in their power to get the onshore plant up, and simply shrug their shoulders.

Such a scenario where FLNG is the development choice du jour would set up an interesting time in WA politics.

Colin Barnett, emboldened by a crushing election win, would be confident of another win if he chose to pick a fight with someone.

While the easy target would be Canberra, there is a school of thought that Barnett could seek to "go after" the oil and gas industry for having the gall to bypass the state and give royalties straight to Canberra.

While the argument won't take that guise, the royalties issue would be at the heart of it.

After all, it could be argued that Barnett would gain very little from attacking the commonwealth.

This is simply because his anti-Canberra rhetoric could simply not be ratcheted up any more without delving into caricature. It would also not win him any more supporters, as most of his supporters are anti-Canberra anyhow.

As strange as it would seem for a conservative premier who has been all about resources development to attack the industry, it's not altogether unfeasible.

APPEA chief executive David Byers chose to remain diplomatic when asked about the prospects of FLNG when queried by journalists yesterday.

"My view on floating LNG is that it really comes down to the project components," he said, playing a straight bat to questions.

"I think we need to keep an open mind that it is an option which is a way to monetise those resources that are not always able to be monetised.

"It's also the kind of innovation I think that as a country…we need to keep an open mind to."

However, speaking to EnergyNews last week some within the industry feared of a schism between the state government and the oil and gas industry could emerge should FLNG, especially for Browse, get up.

While it would more than likely not be open warfare, it could deteriorate a historically chummy relationship.

Watch this space.