Shell Offshore, a UK-headquartered subsidiary of energy giant Shell, has taken the final investment decision (FID) for a waterflooding project at its US power plant in the Gulf of Mexico. The project will enable water to be injected into the reservoir formation to displace additional oil.

Discovered in July 2009, the Vito field is located in more than 4,000 feet of water approximately 75 miles south of Venice, LA, 150 miles southeast of New Orleans, and 10 miles south of the Shell-operated Mars TLP. The FID for the development was prepared in April 2018 by Shell as operator (63.11%) and Equinor (36.89%), with first oil expected to be found in February 2023.

Shell explains that waterflooding is a method of secondary production in which the injected water physically flushes the displaced oil to adjacent production wells, thereby re-pressurizing the reservoir. The three water injection wells were all drilled as pre-production wells.

According to the company, the Vito waterflood project will increase the recoverable resource volume by 60 million boe. The estimate of resource volumes is currently classified as 2P and 2C in the Society of Petroleum Engineers resource classification system, with the process expected to begin in 2027.

“Over time, we have recognized the benefits of waterflooding as we seek to fill our hubs in the Gulf of Mexico,” said Zoe YujnovichDirector of Integrated Gas and Upstream at Shell.”This investment will provide us with additional high-margin, lower carbon barrels from our privileged upstream business while maximising our potential from Vito.”

Vito uses a simplified and cost-efficient host design, revised in 2015, which enables a lifetime reduction of around 80% in CO2 emissions and a cost reduction of over 70% compared to the original concept.

Shell expects production to stabilize at 1.4 million barrels of liquid per day by 2030.