Supermajor Shell has taken the final investment decision for Gato do Mato, a deepwater project in the pre-salt area of the Santos Basin, offshore Brazil.
The Gato do Mato Consortium includes Shell (operator with a 50% stake), Ecopetrol (30%), TotalEnergies (20%), and Pré-Sal Petróleo S.A., acting as the manager of the production sharing contract.
The development plan includes the installation of a floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel and is designed to produce up to 120,000 BOPD. The current estimated recoverable resource volumes of the Gato do Mato development are approximately 370 million bbl.
“Gato do Mato is an example of our ongoing investment in increasingly efficient projects,” said Zoë Yujnovich, Shell’s integrated gas and upstream director. “The project contributes to maintaining stable liquids production from our advantaged upstream business and expands our leadership as the largest foreign producer in Brazil as we continue working to provide for the world’s energy needs well into the future.”
The consortium anticipates that the Gato do Mato field will begin operations in 2029.
The project is a pre-salt gas-condensate discovery that covers two contiguous blocks: BM-S-54, a concession contract entered in 2005, and Sul de Gato do Mato, a production sharing agreement obtained in 2017.
Initial development operations will include the reinjection of natural gas for reservoir pressure support, with future optionality to export gas to onshore facilities.
Water depths at the field site range from 1750 m to 2050 m.
Shell has tapped TechnipFMC to conduct engineering, procurement, construction, and installation for the project. In addition to integrated execution, the project will utilize the contractor's Subsea 2.0 configure-to-order subsea production systems. TechnipFMC called the award a major contract, which it defines as valued greater than $1 billion.
Gato do Mato was discovered in 2010. A subsequent three-well program in 2019 using Constellation drillship Brava Star encountered light hydrocarbons across two blocks. A fourth well was successfully drilled in the first half of 2020.
Last April, Shell chose MODEC to conduct the front-end engineering and design work for Gato do Mato FPSO. MODEC would be responsible for the design of the hull and all related topsides facilities for the FPSO, which is projected to be moored by a SOFEC spread mooring system.
