UNITED STATESNews and Media Releases
Shell Successfully Installs Perdido Topsides
16/03/2009
Opens up new frontier in world’s ultra deepwater.
Perdido is a technological tour de force that is opening up a new frontier for global oil and gas production.
At its Perdido Development, Shell Oil Company has completed the installation of the drilling and production platform atop a 555-foot cylindrical spar floating in about 8,000 feet of water 200 miles from Houston in an isolated sector of the Gulf of Mexico. It is the deepest such facility in the world.
Russ Ford, Shell's technology vice president for the Americas said, "Perdido is a technological tour de force that is opening up a new frontier for global oil and gas production. Once the global economy recovers, the energy challenge will return with a vengeance, and new sources of energy will be required. Producing oil safely and responsibly this far out and this deep should allay concerns about industry access to the 85 percent of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf that remains undeveloped. Perdido and the OCS represent considerable potential to boost U.S. and global energy security."
The Perdido project, which Shell operates on behalf of partners BP and Chevron, demonstrates the enormous time, talent and technology necessary to expand the ultra deepwater frontier. Begun with a lease sale in 1996, Shell had to pioneer several technologies and operational innovations before it could launch commercial development in 2006. That year, due to intense worldwide demand, Shell had to lease one of only two vessels in the world capable of lifting the 9,500-ton topsides onto the spar.
Over the next several months, approximately 270 personnel living on the platform and on a "flotel" alongside it will complete the myriad of tasks in the commissioning and hookup required to produce first oil. The facility is capable of handling 130,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. To get the oil and gas to market required installing 77 miles of oil export pipelines and 107 miles of gas export pipelines in a remote part of the Gulf of Mexico over very rugged sea floor terrain to connect to the existing offshore pipeline infrastructure.
The Perdido Development has already set a world water depth record in drilling and completing a subsea well 9,356 feet (1.77 miles) below the water's surface. The project intends to drill an even deeper well at 9,627 feet.
Nine polyester mooring lines averaging more than two miles in length now hold the 50,000-ton floating structure in place, which will be nearly as tall as the Eiffel Tower when fully operational.
The Perdido Development includes a common processing hub that incorporates drilling capability and functionality to gather, process and export production within a 30-mile radius of the facility. This concept will provide regional synergies, reduced cost and lower risk as well as reducing the number and size of the facilities and operations in this challenging frontier area, resulting in a lower environmental impact than would otherwise be achieved. Ten innovative systems were designed to make Perdido a leader in health and safety.
Shell Oil Company, including its consolidated companies and its share in equity companies, is one of America's leading oil and natural gas producers, natural gas marketers, gasoline marketers and petrochemical manufacturers. Shell, a leading oil and gas producer in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, is a recognized pioneer in oil and gas exploration and production technology. Shell Oil Company is an affiliate of the Shell Group, a global group of energy and petrochemical companies, employing approximately 104,000 people and operating in more than 110 countries and territories.
Inquiries:
Shell US Media Line
713-241-4544
Notes to Editors
For more information about Perdido and to track the progress of the project, please visit www.shell.com/us/perdido. Photos and b-roll are also available online via this link.
Royal Dutch Shell plc
Royal Dutch Shell plc is incorporated in England and Wales, has its headquarters in The Hague and is listed on the London, Amsterdam, and New York stock exchanges. Shell companies have operations in more than 145 countries with businesses including oil and gas exploration and production; production and marketing of Liquefied Natural Gas and Gas to Liquids; manufacturing, marketing and shipping of oil products and chemicals and renewable energy projects including wind and solar power. For further information, visit http://www.shell.com
Disclaimer Statement
This announcement contains forward-looking statements concerning the financial condition, results of operations and businesses of Royal Dutch Shell. All statements other than statements of historical fact are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements are statements of future expectations that are based on management’s current expectations and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements.
Forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements concerning the potential exposure of Royal Dutch Shell to market risks and statements expressing management’s expectations, beliefs, estimates, forecasts, projections and assumptions. These forward-looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as ‘‘anticipate’’, ‘‘believe’’, ‘‘could’’, ‘‘estimate’’, ‘‘expect’’, ‘‘intend’’, ‘‘may’’, ‘‘plan’’, ‘‘objectives’’, ‘‘outlook’’, ‘‘probably’’, ‘‘project’’, ‘‘will’’, ‘‘seek’’, ‘‘target’’, ‘‘risks’’, ‘‘goals’’, ‘‘should’’ and similar terms and phrases.
There are a number of factors that could affect the future operations of Royal Dutch Shell and could cause those results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements included in this Report, including (without limitation):
(a) price fluctuations in crude oil and natural gas;
(b) changes in demand for the Group’s products;
(c) currency fluctuations;
(d) drilling and production results;
(e) reserve estimates;
(f) loss of market and industry competition;
(g) environmental and physical risks;
(h) risks associated with the identification of suitable potential acquisition properties and targets, and successful negotiation and completion of such transactions;
(i) the risk of doing business in developing countries and countries subject to international sanctions;
(j) legislative, fiscal and regulatory developments including potential litigation and regulatory effects arising from recategorisation of reserves;
(k) economic and financial market conditions in various countries and regions;
(l) political risks, project delay or advancement, approvals and cost estimates; and
(m) changes in trading conditions. All forward-looking statements contained in this presentation are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in this section.
Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this presentation, May 4, 2006. Neither Royal Dutch Shell nor any of its subsidiaries undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or other information. In light of these risks, results could differ materially from those stated, implied or inferred from the forward-looking statements contained in this document.
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) permits oil and gas companies, in their filings with the SEC, to disclose only proved reserves that a company has demonstrated by actual production or conclusive formation tests to be economically and legally producible under existing economic and operating conditions.
We use certain terms in this presentation, such as “oil in place" that the SEC's guidelines strictly prohibit us from including in filings with the SEC. U.S. Investors are urged to consider closely the disclosure in our Form 20-F, File No 1-32575 and disclosure in our Forms 6-K file No, 1-32575, available on the SEC website www.sec.gov. You can also obtain these forms from the SEC by calling 1-800-SEC-0330.