Shell expects to achieve higher output of liquefied natural gas in the first quarter after maintenance issues on the Prelude floating LNG and Queensland Curtis LNG projects in Australia.

In a trading update on Thursday, Shell said that it expects first-quarter liquefaction volumes of between 7 million and 7.4 million tonnes in the first quarter, up from 6.8 million tonnes in the previous quarter.

The improvement was attributed to higher uptime on Prelude FLNG and at the Queensland Gas Company (QGC) joint venture, also in Australia.