Shell Offshore, a subsidiary of Shell plc, has started production at the Shell-operated Vito floating production facility in the US Gulf of Mexico (GoM). With an estimated peak production of 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, Vito is the company’s first deep-water platform in the GoM to employ a simplified, cost-efficient host design. Vito is Shell’s 13^th deep-water host in the Gulf of Mexico.

Vito, Shell’s newest platform in the US Gulf of Mexico

Vito is a four-column semi-submersible host facility with eight subsea wells (31,000 feet or 9,400 meters) with deep (18,000 feet or 5,500 meters) in-well, gas lift, and associated subsea flowlines and equipment.

The Vito development is owned by Shell Offshore Inc. (63.11% operator) and Equinor (36.89%). 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 the Whale project that will feature a 99% replication of the Vito hull and 80% of Vito’s topsides. Shell reached an FID on Whale in 2021 and is currently scheduled to begin production in 2024.

Originally discovered in 2009, the Vito field spans four Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) blocks in the Mississippi Canyon and is located at a depth of more than 4,000 feet (1,220 meters) of water. The host is located approximately 150 miles (241 kilometers) southeast of New Orleans and 10 miles (16 kilometers) south of the Shell-operated Mars TLP.

Shell announced a final investment decision (FID) on the Vito project in April 2018.

Vito will produce into Shell Midstream’s Mars Pipeline system.

Current estimated recoverable resource volume of the primary 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. The estimated peak production and current estimated recoverable resources presented above are 100% total gross figures.

Shell is the leading operator in the US Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas production.

In addition to operations in Brazil and the US Gulf of Mexico, Shell’s deep-water portfolio includes the Argentina Shales organization and frontier exploration opportunities in Mexico, Suriname, Sao Tome & Principe, Argentina and Namibia.