Shell starts production from floating production facility Whale

Shell Offshore has started production from Whale, its latest floating production facility in the Gulf of Mexico, bolstering its oil output from the US deepwater area.

Its Whale semi-submersible production unit has peak production capacity of 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day and is in the Alaminos Canyon Block 773 in 2,600 m of water.

It is similar to the floating production facility that started production from the Vito field in early 2023.

Shell Offshore owns 60% of Whale with the rest owned by Chevron. The deepwater field has hydrocarbon resources of around 480M boe which will be produced from 15 wells to be tied back to the production host via subsea infrastructure.

Shell said the Whale four-column production facility replicates 99% of the hull design and 80% of the topsides from the semi-submersible at Vito. It has energy-efficient gas turbines and compression systems, operating with around 30% lower greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity over its lifecycle than the comparable unit at Vito.

Whale is part of Shell’s strategy to develop oil and gas fields in the deepwater areas of the US Gulf of Mexico.

“Whale will make a significant contribution to our commitment to bring projects online, with a total peak production of more than 500,000 boe per day from 2023 through 2025,” said Shell integrated gas and upstream director Zoë Yujnovich.

Shell worked with Seatrium on the design, engineering and construction of the Vito and Whale floating production units and they are collaborating on the next in the series, to be deployed on the Sparta project.