In April 2018 Shell took the final investment decision to develop the Vito deep-water project in the US Gulf of Mexico. Vito will be Shell’s 11th deep-water project in the area.
Location: Gulf of Mexico, 240 kilometres (150 miles) southeast of New Orleans
Depth: 1,219 metres (4,000 feet)
Interests: Shell (63% operator) and Statoil USA E&P Inc. (37%)
Fields: Vito
Production: An estimated 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day at peak production
In April 2018 Shell announced the final investment decision for Vito, a deep-water development in the US Gulf of Mexico with a forward looking break-even price estimated to be less than $35 per barrel.
Building on Shell’s history of leadership in the Gulf of Mexico, Vito will be Shell’s 11th deep-water project in the area. It is currently scheduled to begin producing oil in 2021.
Vito is expected to reach peak production of approximately 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day, which represents a significant contribution to Shell’s continued growth in the Gulf of Mexico. The development currently has an estimated, recoverable resource of 300 million boe.
Read about how two deep-water geologists came out of retirement to help make the Vito project happen.
In 2015, Shell began to redesign the Vito project, reducing cost estimates by more than 70% from the original concept. Vito’s cost savings are due to the simplified design, in addition to working collaboratively with vendors in a variety of areas including well design and completions, subsea, contracting and topsides design.
Learn about the construction of Vito
Duration: 1:28 minutes
Description: Pivotal moments in the offshore business.
[Background music plays]
Melodic instrumental music featuring strings.
[Text displays]
Kurt Shallenberger
Vito Project Manager
[Kurt Shallenberger]
In the offshore business there are pivotal moments: Cognac, Bullwinkle, Auger, Perdida. All ground-breaking moving deep water. Vito is another pivotal moment but not about going deeper but making it affordable and repeatable.
[Video footage]
View over the sea at Sunrise. In the foreground the hook of a crane rises. Aerial views of different drilling platforms at sea. Closer shot of part of drilling platform with sign on side with AUGER in large red letters. Close up side view of Kurt Shallenberger talking. Artist’s impression of drilling platform in yellow against a vivid blue sky. Front view of Kurt Shallenberger facing camera talking about Vito.
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Edwin Verdonk
Vice President of Venture Development
[Edwin Verdonk]
Vito is the first primary example of going for more and more competitive resilience.
[Video footage]
Side view of Edwin Verdonk talking about Vito. Shot changes to show a coastline map with New Orleans pinned in red. An arrow moves from New Orleans to where Vito is to be sited 150 miles South East of New Orleans.
[Kurt Shallenberger]
Vito plays into deep water’s future by learning how to make the possible affordable.
[Video footage]
Front view of Kurt Shallenberger facing camera. Animated view of drilling platform being built.
[Text displays]
Wael Sawan
Executive Vice President, Deep Water
[Wael Sawan]
We’re not just competing with our history, we are competing with the best that the world has to offer.
[Video footage]
Wael Sawan sits facing camera. A bank of monitors is behind him. Shot changes to a close-up, side view of him. Animated diagram of drilling platform at sea level showing the depth the drills go beneath water. Text displays next to diagram: VITO IS MORE THAN 4000 FT BELOW SURFACE. Animated drawing showing a drilling platform being built.
[Text displays]
Eirik Sorgard
Vito Business Opportunity Manager
[Eirik Sorgard]
There is the philosophy that went into constructing it. This is the minimum scope that is required, question ourselves have we added functionalities that we really don’t need, and also it is one of those core beliefs that simpler is safer.
[Video footage]
Animated drawing showing a drilling platform being built. Side view, close-up of Eirik Sorgard talking about the construction of Vito.
[Kurt Shallenberger]
I’m very proud of the Vito family we’ve created. This team has the opportunity to take their creativity and really be the pace-setters for what’s to come in deep water.
Video footage]
Close-up, side view of Kurt Shallenberger talking about the future of Vito.
[Eirik Sorgard]
For now we have a project that is robust, that we can execute and we can get on production by 2021.
Video footage]
Erik Sorgard, facing camera talking about Vito project. A shot of sun going down, reflected on surface of sea.
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Shell jingle
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Shell Pecten centred on a white background with text displaying below.
Deep-water milestones
A long history of deep-water development
The visual shows the ocean with 16 offshore oil & gas assets on the surface. It also shows the seabed with different depths on the left with a depth meter ranging from 200 to 3,000 metres deep, in steps of 200 metres.
Following assets are shown from left to right with the year and the depth at which the asset drills:
In May 2019, Shell started production at Appomattox, a deep-water oil and gas development that is Shell’s largest floating platform in the Gulf of Mexico.
Perdido is the world’s deepest spar, and the second-deepest oil and gas production hub.
Shell’s major projects show our technology and expertise in action.
Shell has a long history of developing energy projects using its knowledge, experience and proven deep-water technologies to unlock new resources safely and efficiently. Read more about Shell’s deep-water work around the world.
Producing energy resources deep beneath the world’s oceans has been going on for 40 years. Most of the deep-water pioneers have retired. Now some of them are back in demand.
