Shell installs Perdido topsides

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 bbl/day of oil equivalent. 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 ft (1.77 miles) below the water’s surface. The project intends to drill an even deeper well at 9,627 ft.

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.