The version of the Vito deepwater platform that now sits quayside at Kiewit Offshore Services (KOS) in Ingleside, Texas, to undergo final prep work ahead of its installation in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) is a far cry from the Vito that was envisaged during the initial development planning for the discovery just over a half-decade ago. In the earliest part of planning, Vito was to be another megastructure like Shell’s previously completed Appomattox floating production system—a 125,000-metric-ton beast with size rivaling most aircraft carriers. But a funny thing happened on the way to Vito becoming another massive modern marvel—a 2015 downturn in oil price coupled with the shale revolution onshore competing for investment made the original course unsustainable. Suddenly, the challenge became designing a competitive production platform that not only saves money but also still gets the most out of the field.
Shell swept the deck clean of unnecessary components, moved the topsides inside the semisubmersible’s columns, and shrank systems where it could safely do so. The resulting 39,000-metric-ton platform—about a 70% size reduction and cost savings over the initial design—competes favorably with the operator’s other global projects. The company was so proud of the accomplishment, they are in the throes of replicating it—at least 80% of it— for the Whale development, also in the US GOM.
The Vito platform, which will be Shell’s 11th deepwater host in the GOM, arrived at KOS on 4 March and is expected to undergo final outfitting and other preparations at the yard over the next 3 months. Shell is targeting June to move the system from the Texas coast out to its installation location in Mississippi Canyon Block 939.
Earlier this month, the Subsea 7 pipelay vessel Seven Oceans picked up the flowlines from a spool base near the KOS yard and took them out for installation. The work scope includes installation of two 12” production flowlines and one 10” gas injection line approximately three miles long each along with associated steel catenary risers and pipeline end terminations.
According to Shell’s Vito project manager Kurt Shallenberger, oil and gas will flow up the risers, get separated like “Italian salad dressing” before exiting the system through the export lines. Vito crude will flow to Shell’s West Delta Block 143 hub before heading to shore, while the produced gas ties into the larger Olympus gas export line before heading to Block 143. The export lines were laid last year.
“A molecule spends roughly 10 minutes onboard the platform,” he said.
Vito is expected to come on line prior to year-end. The project as sanctioned calls for delivery of a peak 100,000 BOPD via eight subsea production wells tied into a single manifold. However, a second chapter to the Vito story is already well underway.
In order to capture all it can of the expected 300 million bbl of reserves at the field, Shell is planning a waterflood project for Vito that should take final investment decision (FID) roughly a year after the field comes on stream. The waterflood not only calls for additional topsides equipment to be squeezed onboard the smaller host, but three additional wells are also planned. The current plan has these wells being initially used as producers before being converted to water injectors, according to Stacy Fresquez, Shell’s Vito waterflood project manager.
As part of the savings plan for Vito, Shell opted out of integrating a drilling rig on the platform, as it had done in the past of several of its legacy tension-leg platforms like Auger, Mars, and Olympus. Instead, it will leave the well construction and servicing to its contracted fleet of deepwater rigs.
The initial Vito design was a full-on gas-injection facility that required about four times the power, and thus greater overall size. Today’s Vito still uses gas to aid the flow of hydrocarbons, but not at the reservoir level, at the wellhead. Shallenberger referred to the in-well gas lift as a “bubbler.”
Vito was discovered in 2009. Shell took FID on the project in April 2018 with a forward-looking break-even price estimated to be less than $35/bbl. With today’s oil price hovering around $100, Vito looks to reach payout sooner rather than later.
“These are long-haul projects,” said Shallenberger. “If you think about it, I started on Vito 6 years ago and the oil price has jumped up and down over those 6 years, and the asset has to produce another 25 years. You don’t design for a single cycle. It must be affordable over the long cycle. If you look at everything happening with the energy transition, we don’t think the price is going to stay where it is today.”
Shell operates Vito with a 63% working interest. Partner Equinor holds the remaining 37% stake.
