Shell’s Kaikias, in the US Gulf of Mexico, is a deep-water project that uses a sub-sea tieback design. In February 2017 Shell took the final investment decision to develop Kaikias and, in May 2018, production started at the first phase of the project.
Location: Gulf of Mexico, 210 kilometres (130 miles) from the coast of Louisiana
Depth: 1,372 metres (4,500 feet)
Interests: Shell (80% operator) and MOEX North America LLC (20%)
Fields: Kaikias
Average peak production: 40,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day
In August 2014 Shell discovered a new oil and gas reservoir at the Kaikias field, a field located in the prolific Mars-Ursa basin in the US Gulf of Mexico, approximately 210 kilometres (130 miles) from the Louisiana coast. The field is estimated to contain more than 100 million barrels of oil equivalent recoverable resource.
In February 2017 Shell announced the final investment decision to execute phase one of the Kaikias deep-water project using a sub-sea tieback design. Three wells, which are designed to produce up to 40,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day at peak rates, will pump oil and gas that will then be taken to the nearby Ursa production hub using a single flowline.
Since taking the final investment decision in early 2017 Shell has managed to reduce costs on the Kaikias project by around 30%. By simplifying the well design and taking advantage of existing oil and gas processing equipment on Ursa, Shell minimised the need for additional top-side modifications. This lowered the forward-looking, break-even price to less than $30 per barrel of oil, down from a previously expected $40 per barrel.
In May 2018 Shell announced the early start of production – around one-year ahead of schedule – at the first phase of Kaikias.
See the history of the Kaikias field and its expected contribution to Shell’s deep-water operations
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[Animation: zoom in on map of Gulf of Mexico, with blinking dot in the water.]
[text: Mars-Ursa basin]
[Aerial shot of ship in open water]
[text:
August 2014
Shell discovers a new oil and gas reservoir at the Kaikias field estimated to contain more than 100 million recoverable barrels of oil equivalent.]
[Animation: a number of connected wells on the seabed]
[text:
January 2017
Shell moves forward with Phase One of development for Kaikias using a sub-sea tieback design.
Three wells will produce oil and gas that's pumped back to the nearby Ursa production hub.]
[Animation: from the main well on the seabed we follow the two pipelines.]
[text: Using the existing subsea infrastructure improves cost and pace of the new development.]
[text: Production froim Shell's global deep water operations is expected to reach approximately 900,000 by the 2020s.]
[Animation: more pipeines come together and are shown to all together move towards the surface of the sea, where they are conneted to a floating offshore installation.]
[text: Tapping into opportunities like Kaikias is a key part of how Shell intends to achieve this target.]
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[text: (c) Shell International Limited 2017]
[Sound: Shell sound]
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