Shell SHEL.L suspended gas production at its Prelude floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) site off Western Australia following a small fire on Wednesday that was rapidly extinguished, a Shell spokesperson said.

She gave no timeline for restoring output at the 3.6 million tonnes a year facility, but said the fire was much less serious than one that shut Prelude a year ago.

“Production has been temporarily suspended and an investigation into the cause of the incident is underway,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

“We will work methodically through the stages in the process to recommence production with safety and stability foremost in mind,” she said.

The fire was detected on the Prelude vessel in a turbine enclosure and contained using a hand-held extinguisher, the spokesperson said.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Sonali Paul; Editing by Himani Sarkar)