Vito oil field : Shell, Equinor begin production from Gulf of Mexico asset

Shell Offshore, a subsidiary of Shell, and Equinor have started production from the Vito oil field in the deep waters of the US Gulf of Mexico (GoM).

The milestone comes nearly five years after the parties reached a final investment decision as the duo aims to exploit a recoverable resource volume of 290 million barrels of oil equivalent.

Discovered in 2009, the Vito deepwater field is producing via a semi-submersible floating production facility with peak production estimated to be 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

Zoe Yujnovich — Shell Upstream Director said: “Vito is an excellent example of how we are approaching our projects to meet the energy demands of today and tomorrow, while remaining resilient as we work toward achieving net zero emissions by 2050.

“Building on more than 40 years of deep-water expertise, projects like Vito enable us to generate greater value from the GoM, where our production has amongst the lowest greenhouse gas intensity in the world for producing oil.”

Shell Offshore is the operator of the Vito field, which happens to be Shell’s 13th deep-water host in the Gulf of Mexico. The offshore oil field has been developed with a four-column semi-submersible host facility with eight wells and deep in-well, gas lift, and associated subsea flowlines and equipment.

The oil produced from the Vito field is transported through the Mars Pipeline system operated by Shell Midstream.

Shell Offshore’s stake in the Vito oil project is 63.1%, while its Norwegian partner owns the remaining 36.9% stake.

The oil field spans four outer continental shelf (OCS) blocks in the Mississippi Canyon and is contained in a water depth of more than 4,000ft. Its location is around 241km southeast of New Orleans.