Shell starts up Whale field in US Gulf of Mexico

Shell started up its deepwater Whale field in the US Gulf of Mexico Jan. 9, the first of several large fields projected to come online in 2025 and push US production to record levels over the next year.

Whale, a 2017 discovery, features a semisubmersible production host facility located capable of producing 100,000 boe/d of peak output in around 8,600 feet of water, Shell said in a statement. A total 15 wells will be tied back to the platform via subsea infrastructure.

"Whale demonstrates our focus on driving more value with less emissions from our upstream business," Shell's Integrated Gas and Upstream Director Zoë Yujnovich said.

The field currently contains estimated recoverable resource volume of 480 million boe, the company said. Moreover, Whale replicates 99% of the hull design and 80% of the topsides from the major's Vito platform which went into service in February 2023.

Vito is a four-column semi-submersible host facility, located further to the east in Shell's greater Mars Corridor in the Mississippi Canyon area of the Gulf.

Chevron is Shell's Whale partner

For Chevron, Shell's partner in Whale with a 40% stake, Whale is the latest milestone following a year when it achieved first production from Chevron's industry-first high-pressure 20,000 psi Anchor project. Also in 2024, Chevron began water injection operations at two projects to boost production at the company's Jack/St. Malo and Tahiti facilities in the Gulf.

Whale came online eight years after discovery, although the time frame includes a one-year delay to the final investment decision following what Shell called its cash preservation strategy during the coronavirus pandemic, the company noted.

In addition, Whale features energy-efficient gas turbines and compression systems, but which operate at about 30% lower greenhouse gas intensity over its life cycle than Vito, Shell said.

Whale also "enhances our leading Gulf of Mexico portfolio, where our oil production has among the lowest GHG intensity in the world," it added.

The Whale production facility is sited in the US Gulf's Alaminos Canyon area, roughly 10 miles from the remote Shell-operated Perdido platform and around 200 miles south of Houston. It is also adjacent to Shell's operated Silvertip field.

Chevron also has a 37.5% interest in Perdido.

Other large US Gulf fields slated to come online in 2025 and boost the region's output are Shenandoah, operated by Beacon Offshore Energy in the Walker Ridge area of the Gulf and designed for 120,000 b/d of oil production, and Chevron-operated Ballymore in the Mississippi Canyon area, designed for 75,000 b/d.

At or near record oil output in 2025

The US Gulf currently produces 1.8 million b/d of crude oil, according to the US Energy Information Administration, and will average about that volume for 2025. That is at or very near record production levels of 1.9 million b/d in 2019, analysts say.

Commodity Insights forecasts average 2025 oil production at 1.958 million b/d, up from 1.782 million b/d in 2024.

Whale is the fourth field to come online in the Perdido area for Shell, after Great White, Silvertip and Tobago where Shell has a significant leasehold, S&P Global Commodity Insights Technical Research Principal George Laguros said.

"As Shell continues to build up infrastructure in the area, it will make it more cost-effective to bring any future smaller projects online that might otherwise not have been produced," Laguros said. "Whale is a prime example of the 'design one, build two strategy" employed by BP and other US Gulf producers.

He noted the Whale floating production unit is a "near-twin" to the Vito FPU, so Shell was able to realize a lot of cost efficiencies in its design and construction.

"I think we'll be seeing more of that in the future," he added. "And at nearly half a billion boe recoverable, it's a significant addition to the Gulf of Mexico."