Project Profile
Value: US$500 Million
Water Depth: 2,222m
Location: De Soto Canyon, Shiloh: Block 269, Mississippi Canyon, Block 393, Appomattox: Block 391 and 392, USA
Production: ~175,000 boepd
Startup Year: 2015
The Vicksburg prospect is located in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, roughly 120 miles, offshore Florida, straddling the border of the Mississippi Canyon, blocks 353 and 397 and De Soto Canyon blocks 393 of the Gulf, in Jurassic sands. The discovery well, located in about 7,500 feet of water, was drilled to a depth of around 24,500 feet and encountered a hydrocarbon column of about 300 feet. Initial estimate of the total recoverable hydrocarbons are at around 250 million barrels of oil equivalent. The Shiloh in Desoto Canyon 269 was drilled and discovered by Shell in 2003. The probe was drilled to a TD of approximately 24,000ft, encountered hydrocarbons and was temporarily abandoned pending further evaluation of the area. The Appomattox discovery well was drilled in a water depth 7,290ft. The discovery was drilled to TD of 35,077ft and encountered 425ft of net oil pay. The initial estimate of the total recoverable reserves exceeds 250 mmboe with upside potential. An early production system may initially develop the discoveries. EPS could produce 20,000-65,000 bpd.
On July 2015, Royal Dutch Shell plc (Shell) made the final investment decision (FID) to advance the Appomattox deep-water development in the Gulf of Mexico. This decision authorises the construction and installation of Shell’s eighth and largest floating platform in the Gulf of Mexico. The Appomattox development will initially produce from the Appomattox and Vicksburg fields, with average peak production estimated to reach approximately 175,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day. The platform and the Appomattox and Vicksburg fields will be owned by Shell (79%) and Nexen Petroleum Offshore U.S.A. Inc. (21%), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CNOOC Limited. During design work for Appomattox, Shell reduced the total project cost by 20% through supply chain savings, design improvements, and by reducing the number of wells required for the development.
Operators:
Shell Exploration & Production Company: Operator with 79% interest in Appomattox and Shiloh and Vicksburg
Nexen: 21% interest in Appomattox and Shiloh and Vicksburg
Contractors:
Oceaneering: Flowline work
Transocean: Exploration drilling on Appomattox
Cosco Shipping Company Limited: Award with Shell to transport the hull of the Appomattox platform halfway around the world from South Korea to Ingleside, Texas.
Danos: Selected by Shell Offshore Inc. to fabricate three boarding valve skid assemblies for its deepwater Appomattox project. The project will engage five Danos divisions—coatings, fabrication, instrumentation and electrical, project management and procurement—will begin immediately, and is expected to take about 12 months to complete. The boarding valve skids will be fabricated at Danos’ Amelia, Louisiana, fabrication facility and shipped to Ingleside, Texas, for integration on the facility topside. Following integration, the equipment will be installed on a floating production platform located in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, about 80 miles off the Louisiana coast.
Oceaneering International, Inc.: Contract from Shell Offshore Inc. to supply umbilicals for the deepwater Appomattox development located in the Mississippi Canyon area of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. The order is for electro-hydraulic steel tube control umbilicals, totalling approximately 60 kilometres (37 miles) in length. Product manufacturing is planned to be performed at Oceaneering’s umbilical facility in Panama City, Florida, and is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2015 and be completed in the third quarter of 2017.
FMC Technologies, Inc.: Contract to provide Enhanced Vertical Deepwater Trees, subsea manifolds, topside controls, a control system, and a distribution system for the Appomattox field.
ITT Corporation (C’treat brand): Contract from Shell Offshore Inc. C’treat will supply reverse osmosis (RO) watermakers for the Appomattox development located approximately 80 miles from the nearest Louisiana shoreline in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. The RO watermakers will be built at the ITT C’treat facility located in the Woodlands, Texas, and are scheduled to be delivered in the first quarter of 2016. (November, 2015)
Williams Partners L.P.: Agreement with Shell Offshore Inc. (Shell) and Nexen Petroleum Offshore U.S.A. Inc. (Nexen) to provide deepwater gas gathering services to the Appomattox development. Williams Partners will provide offshore gas gathering services to its existing Transco lateral, which will provide transmission services onshore to its Mobile Bay processing facility. Williams Partners also plans to make modifications to its Main Pass 261 Platform and install an alternate delivery route for customers from the platform to the existing Destin Pipeline for transportation to another onshore processing facility. (March, 2016)
First Subsea: a contract by Shell to supply Ballgrab subsea mooring line connectors for the Appomattox development. (July, 2016)
Dresser-Rand: Delivery of power generation equipment for a combined cycle power plant (CCPP) for the Shell Appomattox deep-water oil and gas floating production platform. (September, 2016)