A Royal Dutch Shell subsidiary announced this week that it had made a final investment decision (FID) on the Whale project in the US Gulf of Mexico.
Shell Offshore said Whale would entail 99% replication of the hull and 80% replication of the topsides from the company’s Vito project. The latter is also currently under development in the Gulf, with a targeted start-up date of 2022, and involves a four-column semi-submersible host facility
Whale is located in Alaminos Canyon Block 773, adjacent to the Shell-operated Silvertip field. It is estimated to have recoverable reserves of around 490mn barrels of oil equivalent (boe) and is expected to reach peak production of roughly 100,000 boe per day (boepd). The project is anticipated to enter service in 2024, and will be Shell’s 12th deepwater host facility in the Gulf.
The facility will operate in more than 8,600 feet (2,621 metres) of water, and will be connected to 15 producing oil wells.
“Whale is the latest demonstration of our focus on simplification, replication and capital projects with shorter cycle times to drive greater value from our advantaged positions,” stated Shell’s upstream director, Wael Sawan.
The decision to move forward with the project comes at a time when FIDs on new standalone Gulf developments have become relatively uncommon. However, Shell’s announcement illustrates that it is still possible to commit to bringing new deepwater projects online, with some modification or replication of existing developments.

 

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