As the U.S. Department of the Interior continues to pull its heels in growing the subsequent federal offshore oil and gasoline leasing program, Shell yesterday made an announcement that underscores the persevering with significance of U.S. Gulf of Mexico oil and gasoline sources.
Shell Offshore Inc., a subsidiary of Shell plc introduced the Final Investment Decision (FID) for Dover, a deliberate subsea tieback to the Shell-operated Appomattox manufacturing hub within the U.S. Gulf of Mexico (GoM). Dover is predicted to start out manufacturing in late 2024-early 2025 and produce as much as 21,000 barrels of oil equal per day (boe/d) at peak charges.
Originally found in 2018, Dover is situated inside Mississippi Canyon, roughly 170 miles offshore southeast of New Orleans, Louisiana in about 7,500 toes of water.
“Shell is a pioneer in the Norphlet reservoir with Appomattox, and we are building on our leading position in the reservoir with Dover,” mentioned Paul Goodfellow, Shell’s government VP for Deepwater. “Last year we took FID on Rydberg, another subsea tieback to Appomattox, and Dover gives us an opportunity to add to our base in this prolific basin.”
Shell says its funding at Dover underscores its “long-term commitment to the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, where production has among the lowest greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity in the world for producing oil.”
“The reference to our U.S. Gulf of Mexico production having among the lowest GHG intensity in the world is a comparison among other IOGP oil-and gas-producing members,” Shell notes.
LOW GHG INTENSITY
The low GHG depth of U.S. GoM oil and gasoline has led many to distinction the Department of the Interior’s sluggish marching of offshore oil and gasoline lease auctions with Norway’s insurance policies of pulling out all of the stops on every part inexperienced whereas persevering with accountable growth of its offshore oil and gasoline sources.
OMSA President Aaron Smith wrote an OpEd for us again in February 2021 that made that case, and the arguments he made then stay legitimate.
