Shell Offshore Inc. reports that production has started at the Shell-operated Whale floating production facility in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Whale production facility is in the Alaminos Canyon Block 773 and is adjacent to the Shell-operated Silvertip field, about 10 miles (16 km) from the Shell-operated Perdido platform and about 200 miles (320 km) south of Houston.
Discovered in 2017, the Whale field features a semisubmersible production host in more than 8,600 ft (2,600 m) of water with a total of 15 wells to be tied back to the host via subsea infrastructure.
Shell says the Whale facility replicates the simplified, cost-efficient host design of the Vito platform, a four-column semisubmersible host facility that began production in early 2023.
With an estimated peak production of 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d), Whale currently has an estimated recoverable resource volume of 480 MMboe. Whale replicates 99% of the hull design and 80% of the topsides from Vito.
Shell says the Whale facility also features energy-efficient gas turbines and compression systems, operating with about 30% lower greenhouse-gas intensity over its life cycle than Vito.
The Whale development is owned by Shell Offshore Inc. (60%, operator) and Chevron U.S.A. Inc. (40%).
