Shell Offshore, a subsidiary of Shell, has taken a final investment decision (FID) on a waterflood project at its Kaikias field in the US Gulf of America. Water will be injected to displace additional oil in the reservoir formation which supplies production to Shell’s Ursa platform in the Mars Corridor.
Waterflood is a method of secondary recovery where the injected water physically sweeps the displaced oil to adjacent production wells, while re-pressurizing the reservoir. First injection is expected in 2028 and is anticipated to extend the production lifecycle of Ursa by several years.
'Following our decision to increase our stake in Ursa earlier this year, this additional investment continues to maximise the value of the asset,' said Peter Costello, Shell’s Upstream President. 'It also contributes to our aim of maximising high-margin production and longevity in a core basin to maintain liquids production.'
Shell is the leading deep-water operator in the US Gulf of America, where our production has among the lowest greenhouse gas intensity in the world.
Background
- In August 2014, the Kaikias field (Shell 100% working interest (WI)) was discovered in more than 4,000 feet (1,219 metres) of water, approximately 130 miles (209 kilometres) off the coast of Louisiana.
- Production from the Kaikias field began in May 2018 with flowback to Shell’s Ursa platform.
- Shell is the operator of the Ursa Tension Leg Platform and holds 61.3484% ownership in the asset with BP Exploration & Production Inc. 22.6916% and ECP GOM III, LLC 15.96%. In February, Shell announced its acquisition of additional WI in Ursa.
- The Kaikias waterflood project is estimated to increase recoverable resource volume by ~60 million metric barrels of oil equivalent (P50). The estimate of resources volumes is currently classified as 2P under the Society of Petroleum Engineers’ Resource Classification System.
- The reference to our US Gulf of America production having among the lowest greenhouse gas intensity in the world is a comparison among other members of the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers.
- As communicated at Shell’s Capital Markets Day in 2025, we aim to sustain liquids production at around 1.4 million barrels of oil equivalent per day until 2030.
- The estimated recoverable resources presented above are 100% total gross figures.
Source: Shell
