Shell Reaps Rewards of "Design-One, Build-Many" With Whale Platform

Courtesy Shell

Published Jan 9, 2025 4:33 PM by The Maritime Executive

 

 

Shell has brought its Whale offshore production facility in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico online, the supermajor announced Thursday. The floating platform is located about 200 miles off Houston in about 8,600 feet of water, and will addan estimated 100,000 bpd of peak production to Shell's portfolio.  

"Whale demonstrates our focus on driving more value with less emissions from our upstream business as we deliver the energy people need today," said Shell gas and upstream director Zoe Yujnovich. "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."

To keep down cost, Whale reused about 99 percent of the hull design and 80 percent of the topside design from Shell's Vito platform. Shell also invested in more efficient gas turbines and compression systems to bring down greenhouse gas intensity by about 30 percent compared to Vito - tracking with Shell's intention to keep its GHG intensity among the lowest in the world. Shell holds a 60 percent operating share for Whale, and Chevron holds the balance. 

Whale's development was rapid by offshore standards. The field was discovered in 2017 and achieved first oil just 7.5 years later, thanks in part to Shell's decision to reuse many design elements from Vito. It would have been even faster if not for the pandemic: Shell paused its final investment decision on Whale for a year as part of a cash-preservation strategy during the COVID era. 

Shell is taking the same standardization approach with its Sparta platform, under construction at Seatrium. Sparta will be Shell's 15th deepwater platform in the Gulf, and should come online in 2028. Sparta will be the first in the series will all-electric topside compression equipment, enhancing efficiency, and will be Shell's first Gulf development in reservoirs over the 20,000-PSI pressure mark. The basic hull and topside arrangement - and importantly, the team - will remain the same. 

“With Sparta, we’re not just repeating the design with Whale, but also relationships with many of the key vendors, fabricators and suppliers,” Shell Project Manager Oro Awaritefe told Offshore Magazine last year. “This helps bring certainty in the design.”