Shell Offshore Inc. says that it will be moving forward with a waterflood project at its Vito asset in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico.
In this process, water will be injected into the reservoir formation to displace additional oil. The process is due to begin in 2027 and is expected to significantly enhance volume capacity at the Vito field, Shell says.
First discovered in July 2009, the Vito field is located in four blocks in the Mississippi Canyon area of the Gulf of Mexico, in more than 4,000 feet of water. First oil was achieved in February 2023.
“Over time, we’ve seen the benefits of waterflood as we look to fill our hubs in the Gulf of Mexico,” said Zoë Yujnovich, Shell Integrated Gas and Upstream Director. “This investment will deliver additional high-margin, lower-carbon barrels from our advantaged upstream business while maximizing our potential from Vito.”
The waterflood process is a method of secondary recovery where the injected water physically sweeps the displaced oil to adjacent production wells, while re-pressurizing the reservoir. The three water injection wells were all drilled as pre-producers.
Shell says that given the properties of the Vito reservoir, energy is required to maximize the producing rate of existing wells and thus ultimate recovery. The Vito waterflood project is expected to increase recoverable resource volume by 60 MMboe.
The company said that this estimate of resource volumes is currently classified as 2P and 2C under the Society of Petroleum Engineers' Resource Classification System.
