Energy company Shell has ordered three AW189s from Leonardo for offshore support from Broome in Western Australia. In a first for the offshore helicopter market in Australia, Shell will own the helicopters and contract an operator to fly them.

Shell chose the same paint scheme as the four Sikorsky S92s they operate through Brunei Shell Petroleum from Seria-Anduki Airport in Brunei.

Tony Cramp, Managing Director of Shell Aircraft, confirmed to HeliHub.com in an interview that the AW189s will be flown under contract by PHI, and all three are expected to be delivered by the end of 2025. The first is already test flying, as seen in our images here.

The trio will be flown in support of the Prelude FLNG (floating liquefied natural gas) facility, which is positioned 475km north north east of Broome, and 200km from the nearest coast – a very sparsely populated part of Australia.

The contract is currently flown by CHC, using Sikorsky S92s.

The 475km sector length would put a 950km return flight to Prelude from Broome is at the very limit of the AW189 range of 1043km (with the long-range tanks fitted), so these support flights routinely pause at Djarindjin Airport as part of their fuel management plan.

Prelude is a 488m long liquefied natural gas production facility, and holds the record as the longest vessel in the world. The vessel is moored by its turret to 16 seabed driven steel piles, each 65m long and 5.5m in diameter, and is planned to be in place for 25 years.

Shell has a controlling 67.5% stake in Prelude, with INPEX Oil & Gas Australia, Korean-owned KOGAS and OPIC making up the rest of the owning consortium. It has two helipads, which can be seen in this overview video of Prelude on Shell’s YouTube channel.

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