Shell’s Whale floating production facility in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) has reached first oil less than eight years after the field’s discovery in 2017, Shell subsidiary Shell Offshore Inc. said Jan. 9.
The Whale production facility, located in the Alaminos Canyon Block 773, is operated and 60% owned by Shell Offshore. Chevron USA Inc. owns the other 40%.
The development is adjacent to the Shell-operated Silvertip field and approximately 16 km from the Shell-operated Perdido platform.
Estimated recoverable resource volume for Whale is at 480 MMboe with an estimated peak production of 100,000 boe/d. The estimate of resource volumes is classified as 2P under the Society of Petroleum Engineers’ Resource Classification System.
"[Whale] will make a significant contribution to our commitment to bring projects online, with a total peak production of more than 500,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day from 2023 through 2025," said Zoë Yujnovich, Shell integrated gas and upstream director.
The Whale Field features a semi-submersible production host in more than 2,600 m of water with 15 wells to be tied back to the host. Its design resembles Vito, a four-column semi-submersible host facility in the GoM that started production in 2023, but with 30% lower greenhouse gas intensity over its life cycle.
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