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Whale: Setting new standards for deep water

The most efficient of Shell’s oil and gas platforms in the Gulf of America, formerly named Gulf of Mexico, Whale joins our leading deep-water portfolio to help deliver the secure energy the world needs today.

January 9, 2025

Read time: 4 mins

From desk to deep water: Whale starts production

In a control room in New Orleans, Shell staff start up the Whale platform 600 kilometres away in the Gulf of America. With just 60 people on board and a simplified design, Whale is reducing costs and emissions.

Read the full story
Two Shell engineers, their t-shirts maroon with a white whale logo, stand in front of the computer screens in a control room in New Orleans.

Engineering by design: Shell’s latest platform

Project manager Oro Awaritefe explains how Whale replicates its predecessor, Vito, to become Shell’s most efficient platform in the Gulf of America to date.

Video transcript

Title: WHALE social Film 2 60 sec_58977

Duration: 1:06 minutes

Description: A short film about the Shell Whale platform.

[Background music]

Relaxing, mid-tempo music

[Visuals]

A man in red overalls and a white hard hat (Oro) stands in front of large grey industrial pipes as he speaks to camera.
Overhead shot of Shell’s Whale platform in the sea.
White text appears in the centre of frame.

[Oro]

This is Whale, Shell’s latest platform, designed to deliver more value with less emissions.

[Text displays]

Whale
More value
Less emissions

[Visual transition]

Camera zooms in to next shot

[Visuals]

Camera zooms in on Oro standing on the platform and pans around to a head-on shot.
White text appears in the top right of frame.

[Oro]

I’m Oro, the Project Manager.

[Text displays]

Oro
Project Manager, Whale

[Visual transition]

Camera zooms out to next shot

[Visuals]

Oro stands in front of large grey industrial pipes as he speaks to camera.
Panning shot of the Whale platform in the sea to the right of frame.
A grey text box with white text appears left of frame, circled by a yellow animated line.

[Text displays]

Set new standards for deepwater

[Oro]

It’s exciting to see Whale set new standards for deepwater energy on multiple levels.

[Visual transition]

Screen wipes to the next shot.

[Visuals]

Speeded-up drone footage circling around the Whale platform.
Closer shot of the Whale platform in the sea.
White text appears in the centre of frame.
The camera zooms in closer on the Whale platform.

[Text displays]

Competitive returns

[Oro]

Whale will deliver competitive returns…

[Visuals]

Camera pans up from the sea to the Whale platform.
Camera zooms out to show Whale in a vast expanse of sea.
White text appears at the top of the frame, with numbers counting up to 30%, and at the bottom of the frame.

[Text displays]

30%
lower carbon intensity

[Oro]

..with 30% lower carbon intensity across its life cycle.

[Visual transition]

Camera zooms in to the next shot.

[Visuals]

Oro stands in front of large grey industrial pipes as he speaks to camera.
Overhead shot of the Whale platform in the sea.
A grey text box with white text appears centre of frame, circled by a yellow animated line.

[Text displays]

Shell’s most efficient platform in the Gulf of America to date

[Oro]

So when Whale comes online, it will be Shell’s most efficient platform in the Gulf of America to date. And here’s how we did it.

[Visuals]

Oro stands in front of large grey industrial pipes as he speaks to camera.
Panning drone shot of the Shell Vito platform in the sea.
White text appears above the platform.

[Text displays]

Vito

[Visuals]

An animated yellow arrow appears from right of frame, splitting the screen in two.
To the right is a panning drone shot of the Shell Whale platform.
White text appears above the platform.

[Text displays]

Whale

[Visual transition]

The screen wipes to the next shot.

[Visuals]

A yellow line splits the screen in two.
To the left is an overhead shot of the Vito platform.
To the right is an overhead shot of the Whale platform.

[Oro]

Whale is a replicant, almost an exact copy of Vito, the prototype platform that came before.

[Visual transition]

Camera zooms in to the next shot.

[Visuals]

A CG animated sequence shows the bottom of the platform being built against a blue background as the camera pans around it.
A CG animated sequence shows the top section of the platform being built against a blue background as the camera pans around it.
A grey text box with white text appears at the top right of frame, circled by a yellow animated line.
A CG animated sequence shows the top of the platform being lowered onto the bottom.

[Text displays]

Replication cut build times by half

[Oro]

And by following Vito’s tried and tested blueprint, we’ve cut timeframes by half and increased efficiencies.

[Visual transition]

Screen wipes to the next shot.

[Visuals]

A man sits at a desk and looks up at computer screens showing data, as Oro stands next to him.
Close-up of a screen showing a meteorological map.
Camera moves across to a CCTV screen showing a man in an office.

[Oro]

Whale is leading advances in digital technology, too.

[Visuals]

Wide-angle shot of the Whale platform in the sea.
White text appears centre of frame, with a yellow outline circling it.
The words “digital technology” remain as the words underneath change.

[Text displays]

Digital technology
enables remote control
less offshore transport

[Visuals]

Wide-angle shot of helicopters standing on an airfield.
Closer-angle shot as a yellow helicopter drives along the ground from left to right.
Shot from below as a yellow helicopter flies above.

[Oro]

It can be operated remotely. This means fewer people offshore, reducing transportation and logistical emissions over the lifespan of the platform.

[Visuals]

Head-and-shoulders shot of Oro standing in front of large grey industrial pipes as he speaks to camera.
Wide-angle shot of the Whale platform in the sea.
White text appears centre of frame.

[Text displays]

Whale
More value
less CO2

[Oro]

I am proud that Shell’s innovative design and efficiency offers more value with less CO2.

[Graphics]
A cut-out of the Shell logo zooms in to turn the screen white. A red and white Shell logo emerges from centre frame. Black text appears underneath.

[Audio]

Shell brand mnemonic played on keys.

[Text displays]

#PoweringProgress
shell.com/deepwater
© Shell International Limited 2024

Whale in numbers

100,000

barrels of oil equivalent a day expected peak production - enough to fuel the daily journeys of 2.7 million cars in the USA.

30%

lower carbon intensity over its life cycle than Vito, another deep-water platform in the Gulf of America.

2,600

metres (8,600 feet) below the water’s surface - three times the height of the world’s tallest building*, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

*as of 2024

Providing the energy the world needs today

Whale will make a significant contribution towards Shell’s commitment to produce 500,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day from 2023 through 2025.

Read media release
Whale, a Shell operated deep-water platform in the Gulf of Mexico, photographed against a clear, blue sky.
The Whale development is owned by Shell (60%) and Chevron (40%) and it is operated by Shell.

Zoom in on Whale

A map: Shell's latest deep-water platforms in the Gulf of America
  • Discovered in 2017, the Whale oil and gas field lies beneath more than 2,600 metres (8,600 feet) of water around 320 kilometres (200 miles) south of Houston in the USA.
  • Whale is the second of three planned oil and gas platforms with a similar design. The prototype, Vito, started production in early 2023. The third platform, Sparta, is under construction. It is scheduled to start operations in 2028.
  • Whale is Shell’s 14th deep-water development in the Gulf of America, where our production has some of the lowest greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity in the world for producing oil.

30 percent reduction from Whale to Vito

The Shell-operated Whale floating production facility in the Gulf of America replicates 99% of the hull design and 80% of the topsides from the Shell-operated Vito floating production facility. However, with the addition and use of energy-efficient gas turbines and compression systems, Whale is expected to operate with around 30% lower greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity over its anticipated life cycle compared to Vito. Waste-heat recovery units were fitted to all the power turbines. These units capture energy that would otherwise be lost to the atmosphere. This energy is then reused to heat the raw fluids so they can be exported from the platform. The process of compressing gas before it is exported to the shore is another contributor to emissions on offshore facilities. To reduce these emissions on Whale, engineers installed compressors which use less energy than a conventional system.

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Shell’s net-zero emissions target

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Forward-looking non-GAAP measures

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