The Shell-operated Crux Project is located in Commonwealth waters in the northern Browse Basin, 190 kilometres (km) offshore north-west Australia, between 460 km and 620 km north-east of Broome. The Activity Area is defined by the petroleum title AC/L10 and pipeline licences WA-33-PL and AC/PL1.

Water depths within the Activity Area range from ~90–260 m from mean sea level. The Activity Area is ~80 km from Cartier Marine Park, ~128 km from Ashmore Marine Park and ~80 km from Kimberley Marine Park and does not contain any emergent reefs/islands. The nearest island is Browse Island, which is ~42 km south-south-east of the Activity Area. The nearest shoals or banks are ~8 km from the Activity Area—Goeree Shoal north-north-west and Eugene McDermott Shoal east-south-east.

The Crux Offshore Project Proposal (OPP) was accepted in August 2020 by the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA).
During the execution phase of the project, Shell proposes to develop a number of separate EPs which incorporate the various stages of the project.

This EP covers the installation of the Crux Pipeline, Substructure and Topside, including all tie-ins, cold commissioning, contingent and supporting activities. The Activity is scheduled to undertaken from approximately late–2024 to 2028 (excluding the preservation period), pending regulatory approvals and project schedule interfaces. The Activity is estimated to be completed in approximately three years with activities occurring in multiple work packages. The major work packages and estimated durations—subject to vessel availability, operational efficiencies and weather conditions—are:

Install and cold commission the export pipeline (approximately five months);
Install and cold commission the Prelude–end flexible riser and umbilical (approximately six weeks);
Install the Crux substructure (approximately three months);
Install topsides (approximately five months);
Crux topsides tie-ins and cold commissioning activities (approximately two years); and the
Staged preservation period: once the infrastructure is installed and left in a preserved state for the life of this EP.

Each work package will be executed 24 hours a day, seven days a week—subject to operational and safety considerations. This EP was developed based on activities occurring any time during the year to ensure all project planning scenarios were assessed. Cold commissioning and preserving the Crux Project infrastructure is critical to maintaining the integrity of the infrastructure before operations with produced hydrocarbons commence. While the infrastructure is designed to minimise the need for inspection or intervention, certain events, such as third-party interaction or a severe cyclone, may require these activities to occur. This EP provides for Inspection, Maintenance and Repair (IMR) activities that may occur during the preservation period.