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Tracking the Project
Follow the progress of the Perdido Regional Development, from installation to first oil.
- Topsides successfully installed – March 2009
- World’s deepest offshore well – December 2008
- Perdido spar moves into place (August 18, 2008)
- Perdido spar continues its journey to ultra deepwaters (August 8, 2008)
- Perdido hull arrives in Texas (June 19, 2008)
- From Finland to the Gulf of Mexico (May 27, 2008)
- Drilling begins at Perdido (October 2007)
Topsides successfully installed – March 2009
Connecting the drilling and production platform.
Shell 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.
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 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.
Browse Images and Video of the Topsides Platform - opens in new window
World’s deepest offshore well – December 2008
Shell has set a world water depth record in drilling and completing a subsea well 9,356 feet (1.77 miles) below the water’s surface in the Silvertip Field approximately 200 miles from Houston in the Gulf of Mexico.
This achievement represents a leap forward in applying sophisticated technologies in a harsh environment of rough terrain and very high pressures accessible only by remotely operated vehicles.
As an oil well, the Perdido record is 35 percent deeper than the previous oil well record of 6,950 feet, also set by Shell at the Gulf of Mexico’s Fourier field. At Perdido, Shell intends to drill an even deeper well at the Tobago field at 9,627 feet, which will surpass the present world record at Silvertip.
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.
Perdido spar moves into place (August 18, 2008)
The Shell-operated Perdido Regional Development Spar has arrived in the ultra deepwaters of the Gulf of Mexico and is currently being secured to the seafloor in about 8,000 feet of water.
Once completed, the Perdido spar will be nearly as tall as the Eiffel Tower and weigh as much as 10,000 cars. Perdido will be the deepest oil development in the world, the deepest drilling and production platform in the world and have the deepest subsea well in the world.
Positioning the spar into place required carefully-orchestrated maneuvers. View or download images, video and animations (opens in a new window) - opens in new window to see how it was done.
Perdido will be a fully functional oil and gas platform with a drilling rig and direct vertical access wells, full oil and gas processing and remote subsea wells. The facility is designed to produce 100,000 barrels of oil per day and 200 million standard cubic feet of gas. The production from these fields will be transported via new and existing pipelines to US refineries.
The Perdido Spar will bring in production from three fields: Great White, Silvertip and Tobago. These fields are located in 10 Outer Continental Shelf blocks in Alaminos Canyon, approximately 200 miles south of Freeport, TX.
This development will provide the first Gulf of Mexico commercial production from a Paleogene reservoir. All three fields have been granted production units from the Minerals Management Service and the accumulations are completely in US waters, some eight miles north of Mexico international borders. First production from Perdido is expected around the turn of the decade.
View or download a map of the Perdido Development.
Perdido spar continues its journey to ultra deepwaters (August 8, 2008)
Shell and co-owners BP and Chevron are one step closer to bringing much-needed new energy resources to the United States. On Aug. 8, 2008, the Perdido Regional Development Spar departed Ingleside, TX, on its way to its final work site, Alaminos Canyon Block 857, in the ultra deepwater Gulf of Mexico.
The spar will be towed 160 nautical miles over an approximately three-day period. Once on site, it will be upended – rotated from a horizontal to a vertical floating position – then, it will be secured by nine polyester / chain mooring lines to the seafloor anchor piles, which are already installed on site.
All this is happening in approximately 8,000 feet of water, making Perdido the world’s deepest oil and gas spar production facility. It will provide production processing for three fields: Great White, Silvertip and Tobago. Perdido will be capable of delivering 130,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (100,000 barrels of oil and 200 million cubic feet of gas per day).
Perdido is scheduled to begin production around the turn of the decade.
View images of the departure (opens in a new window) - opens in new window.
Perdido hull arrives in Texas (June 19, 2008)
The Perdido hull arrived in Ingleside, Texas, where it will be outfitted for offshore installation before beginning the journey to Alaminos Canyon in the Gulf of Mexico.
The hull of what will be the world’s deepest oil and gas spar production facility, the Perdido Regional Development, has made its way from Finland to Ingleside, Texas. Perdido will be capable of delivering 130,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day from the ultra-deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
The construction of the hull began in November 2006 at the Technip construction yard in Pori, Finland. It required more than two million man hours -- with no lost time incidents -- to get to this stage. On May 27, 2008, the hull sailed from Finland. Now at the Kiewit Offshore Services fabrication yard in Ingleside, Shell will work with Technip and Kiewit to perform final outfitting of the hull in preparation for offshore installation.
Currently slated for August 2008, the hull will be towed offshore to the Perdido work site, Alaminos Canyon Block 857 in the Gulf of Mexico. Once there, Heerema Marine Contractors, using several vessels, will upend the hull and attach the nine mooring lines to the seafloor.
Kiewit also holds the contract to construct and fabricate the Perdido topsides facility. As the name infers, the topsides sit on top of the hull. It includes the production equipment, drilling rig and the living quarters. Topsides construction began in March 2007 and continues today. The topsides will be mated with the hull in a single lift in early 2009.
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From Finland to the Gulf of Mexico (May 27, 2008)
The hull of the Perdido Regional Development
The race is on to produce tomorrow's oil from new and more hostile frontier environments. The construction of the hull of one of the world's deepest oil production facilities is now complete and today it started to make its 8,200 mile journey from the shipyard in Pori, Finland, to Ingleside, Texas.
The massive steel spar structure, which is nearly as tall as the Eiffel Tower, and weighs as much as 10,000 family cars, forms part of Shell's most ambitious deepwater offshore oil and gas development ever undertaken and will be the world’s deepest spar production facility.
Following its departure from Finland, the hull will travel by transport barge to Ingleside, Texas, where it will be outfitted for offshore installation before beginning the journey to the deep sea and its final frontier destination in block 857 of the Alaminos Canyon.
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Drilling begins at Perdido (October 2007)
The Noble Clyde Boudreaux
Work has begun on-site in Alaminos Canyon, the future home of the Shell-operated Perdido Regional Development spar. Moored in about 8,000 feet of water, the regional DVA (direct vertical access) spar will be the deepest spar production facility in the world and once online will help meet our ever-growing demand for energy in the U.S.
Clyde Boudreaux begins work
The Noble Clyde Boudreaux semisubmersible drilling rig was refurbished and left dock from Mississippi in June 2007. It traveled approximately 580 miles to the Perdido site. The Clyde Boudreaux will drill a 20-well batch set, pre-drilling the wells. When the spar arrives, Shell will finish drilling the wells, complete them and produce from them. First production from Perdido is expected around the turn of the decade, with the facility capable of handling 130,000 boe/d.
Protected from hurricane force winds and massive waves
The Clyde Boudreaux was built to Shell specifications to operate in ultra deepwater and withstand hurricane strength winds. After Hurricane Katrina, Shell and Noble engineers re-designed the mooring system, which anchors the rig to the seafloor and keeps it on station. The Clyde Boudreaux has 16 mooring lines, can be moored in 10,000 feet of water and should survive a hurricane as powerful as Katrina.
Two derricks accelerate work
The Clyde Boudreaux is also equipped with two derricks, allowing for dual activity. With two rig floors, operators can drill one well, run casing with the other rig and move the rig back and forth. Work can be done in half the time that it would take a single-activity rig.
The Clyde Boudreaux is expected to remain at Perdido until around the turn of the decade, working even after the spar is installed. The Clyde Boudreaux can house up to 200 people, with hull dimensions of 271' x 228'.
Three fields - Great White, Silvertip and Tobago - will be developed via the Perdido spar, which is jointly owned by Shell (35%), Chevron (37.5%) and BP (27.5%).