(WO) — Shell Offshore Inc., a subsidiary of Shell plc (Shell), announced has begun oil production at the Shell-operated Vito floating production facility in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico (GoM). With an estimated peak production of 100,000 boed, Vito is the company’s first deep-water platform in the GoM to employ a simplified, cost-efficient host design.
“Vito is an excellent example of how we are approaching our projects to meet the energy demands of today and tomorrow, while remaining resilient as we work toward achieving net zero emissions by 2050,” said Zoe Yujnovich, Shell’s Upstream Director, adding, “Building on more than 40 years of deep-water expertise, projects like Vito enable us to generate greater value from the GoM, where our production has amongst the lowest greenhouse gas intensity in the world for producing oil.”
In 2015, the original host design was rescoped and simplified, resulting in a reduction of approximately 80% in CO2 emissions over the lifetime of the facility as well as a cost reduction of more than 70% from the original host concept.
Vito also serves as the design standard for Shell’s Whale project that will feature a 99% replication of the Vito hull and 80% of Vito’s topsides.
Shell’s Powering Progress strategy to thrive through the energy transition includes increasing investment in lower-carbon energy solutions, while continuing to pursue the most energy-efficient and highest-return Upstream investments.
Originally discovered in 2009, the Vito field spans four Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) blocks in the Mississippi Canyon at a depth of more than 4,000 ft (1,220 m) of water. The host is approximately 150 miles (241 km) southeast of New Orleans and 10 miles (16 km) south of the Shell-operated Mars TLP.
Vito is a four-column semi-submersible host facility with eight subsea wells (31,000 ft or 9,400 m) with deep (18,000 ft or 5,500 m) in-well, gas lift, and associated subsea flowlines and equipment.
Current estimated recoverable resource volume of the Vito development is 290 million boe. The estimate of resources volumes is currently classified as 2p and 2c under the Society of Petroleum Engineers’ Resource Classification System.
Vito is Shell’s 13ᵗʰ deep-water host in the Gulf of Mexico. Shell is the leading operator in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas production. In addition to operations in Brazil and the U.S. GoM, Shell’s deep-water portfolio includes our Argentina Shales organization and frontier exploration opportunities in Mexico, Suriname, Sao Tome & Principe, Argentina and Namibia.
