Williams has reached an agreement with Shell Offshore Inc. and Chevron U.S.A. Inc. to provide offshore natural gas gathering and crude oil transportation services as well as onshore natural gas processing services for the Whale development located approximately 10 miles from the Shell-operated Perdido host facility.
The Whale development, operated by Shell which owns 60% of the project, alongside Chevron with 40%, is expected to reach peak production of around 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed), Shell said in a statement.
Whale, which was discovered in 2017, holds a recoverable resource of 490 million barrels of oil equivalent and is scheduled to begin production in 2024.
“Our asset synergies in the Gulf of Mexico are second to none, and we are pleased to strengthen our existing onshore and offshore infrastructure to further serve the growing needs of deepwater producers,” said Micheal Dunn, chief operating officer at Williams.
“The development of Whale expands Williams’ footprint in the Gulf by contracting one of the largest discoveries in the past decade and creating future connection opportunities for producers that will capture the full value of these important deepwater resources.”
Williams’ assets in the Gulf of Mexico offer producers capabilities – including gathering, transmission, processing, and fractionation. Williams owns and operates 3,500 miles of natural gas and oil gathering and transmission pipeline, along with 1.8 billion cubic feet per day of cryogenic processing capacity and 60,000 barrels per day of fractionation capacity that span the Gulf of Mexico. The company has ownership in two floating production platforms, multiple fixed leg utility platforms and numerous other related facilities.
