Oil supermajor Shell on Thursday announced it has achieved first oil at its Whale deepwater floating production facility in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.
The development is operated by Shell, which owns a 60% stake in the project alongside fellow supermajor Chevron, which holds 40%. At peak, the development is expected to produce 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d), and its current estimated recoverable resource volume is 480 million boe, Shell said.
The Whale semi-submersible production facility is approximately 200 miles southwest of Houston on Alaminos Canyon Block 773 in more than 8,600' of water. It’s approximately 10 miles from the Shell-operated Perdido spar platform. Discovered in 2017, the Whale field will feature a total of 15 wells to be tied back to the host via subsea infrastructure in the first phase of development.
The Whale floating production unit, comprised of a topside module and a four-column semisubmersible floating hull, was built by Seatrium and transported to the U.S. aboard Boskalis' 902' semisubmersible heavy transport vessel Boka Vanguard in 2023.
Whale replicates 99% of the hull design and 80% of the topsides from Vito, a four-column semi-submersible host facility located in the greater Mars Corridor that began production in early 2023. According to Shell, its strategy to leverage engineering and construction techniques used for Vito accelerated its production timeline. Whale was able to achieve first oil 7.5 years after discovery, including a delay in reaching a final investment decision due to Shell's cash preservation strategy adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition, Whale features energy-efficient gas turbines and compression systems, which Shell said will reduce the facility's lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity by about 30% compared to Vito.
"Whale demonstrates our focus on driving more value with less emissions from our Upstream business as we deliver the energy people need today," said Zoë Yujnovich, Shell's integrated gas and upstream director. "It 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."
Bruce Niemeyer, president, Chevron Americas exploration & production, said, “Production from Whale brings Chevron another step closer to reaching 300,000 net barrels of oil equivalent per day in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico by 2026.”
