UNITED STATESPrimary navigation | back to top
Main content | back to top
Princess Subsea Development
Princess is located in Mississippi Canyon Blocks 765 and 766 in the Gulf of Mexico, about 140 miles southeast of New Orleans and in approximately 3,650 feet of water.
Princess working interest owners are Shell, operator, with 45%, BP, with 23%, ExxonMobil, with 16%, and Conoco, with 16%. Shell acquired the blocks in Lease Sale 123 in 1990. In 2000, Princess was unitized and brought into the Ursa unit; Ursa partners then became Princess working interest owners.
The discovery well and three sidetracks were drilled using the Noble Jim Thompson in May 2000 on MC Block 765.
The Princess field is a subsalt accumulation with five commercial pay sands. The depth ranges for these sands extend from approximately 16,500 feet to 20,200 feet subsea. The average net thickness ranges from approximately 40 – 110 feet. API gravity is 28°. Sulfur is approximately 1.8% wt.
Development Plans
Princess is a phased development, utilizing 15,000-psi subsea equipment, which was a first for Shell Exploration & Production Company operated subsea developments. The Princess development also included an intervention system on the blowout preventer directly on its subsea trees. All of Princess’ wells are world-class extended reach wells.
Princess’ initial phase of development consisted of one tension leg platform well (Ursa A10) and a three well subsea system, which utilized dual insulated flowlines with production sleds and a steel tube umbilical with a termination skid. The subsea system is expandable to serve up to four wells.
The first producing well at Princess, Ursa A10, was spudded on January 11, 2002, by Shell’s Ursa rig and drilled to a measured depth of 27,122 feet. Shell spudded Princess’ first subsea development well, the Eastern Appraisal well, on January 8, 2002, using the Noble Jim Thompson rig. Shell drilled this well to a depth of 33,200 feet, which set a new Gulf of Mexico record for measured depth.
Princess’ initial phase of development included drilling two additional subsea wells – the Northern and Central wells. Shell completed the batch set of these wells in January 2003 using the Noble Paul Romano rig. These wells were deepened in February 2003 using the Noble Jim Thompson.
Production
First production dates are:
- Princess A10 – November 2002
- Princess Eastern, Northern and Central wells – December 2003