Shell has published this footage of Prelude's hull being tested at a shipyard in Geoje, South Korea

A floating vessel that is longer than the Empire State Building is high has taken to the water for the first time.
The hull of Shell's Prelude was floated in South Korea.
When fully built, Prelude will be the largest floating facility ever created, weighing more than 600,000 tonnes.

It would be used to help in the production of natural gas from 2017, Shell said, and would operate for 25 years off Australia's north-west coast.
The area has a yearly cyclone season from November to April, but Prelude has been designed to withstand such conditions. It is hoped the facility will be able to produce enough gas to power a city the size of Hong Kong.

Despite appearances, Prelude cannot strictly be described as a ship as it needs to be towed to its destination rather than travelling under its own power.
Shell has not disclosed how much the vessel will cost, but industry analysts told Reuters that it would be likely to command a price of between $10.8bn and $12.6bn (£6.6bn - £7.7bn).

Not content with Prelude's record-breaking size, Shell said it had already started work on an even bigger facility.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25213845

Eigen mening:
Dat we het uiterste uit onze planeet willen halen wordt wederom bewezen door dit enorm varend gasplatform. Even lang als het empire state building hoog is (381m) en zal tegen 2017 ingezet worden bij de Australische kust om natuurlijk gas op te pompen. De vraag is natuurlijk hoe lang we nog door kunnen gaan met alle gas en oliebronnen op onze planeet te gebruiken. Tot ze op zijn, en dan zitten we daar, met al onze auto's en motoren, verwarming,... die vertrouwden op de natuurlijke reserves van gas en olie. En dan zal er snel genoeg een oplossing komen. Maar zolang er nog voorraad is, zal fossiele brandstof niet wijken voor een schonere en hernieuwbare energie. Dat is iets wat we onder ogen zullen moeten zien. Hopelijk is tegen dan de wereld nog niet volledig om zeep.