The Shenandoah production semisubmersible has left a shipyard in Korea, bound for the Gulf of Mexico, and project partners have sanctioned a second phase of development as well as that of the Zephyrus development.
Beacon Offshore Energy announced on 20 December that the Shenandoah production semisubmersible had left HD Hyundai Heavy Industries’ shipyard in Ulsan, South Korea, on 13 December. It is expected to arrive at Kiewit Offshore Services’ fabrication yard in Ingleside, Texas, in the middle of February for final preparations and regulatory inspections. The 25,000-metric-ton production unit will then be towed to the project site in the Walker Ridge area of the US Gulf of Mexico.
The semisubmersible has a nameplate capacity of 120,000 BOPD.
Mooring pile installation is complete, and infield pipelay activities are expected to be conducted in the first quarter of 2025. The 102-mile, 18-in. SYNC oil export pipeline installation and associated upgrades to the Cameron Highway Oil Pipeline System (CHOPS) GB 72 platform are complete.
Beacon said rig operations were underway for the completion of the second of four production wells planned in Phase 1 of the ultrahigh-pressure/high-temperature development. Rig flowback operations are expected to be conducted in the first quarter of 2025, followed by completion operations on the final two Phase 1 producing wells.
First oil for Shenandoah remains on track for the second quarter of 2025.
Shenandoah Phase 2
Beacon said it and its partners had reached final investment decision (FID) on Shenandoah Phase 2, which will include drilling and completing two production wells, debottlenecking activities to expand the production unit’s throughput capacity to 140,000 BOPD, and installing a subsea booster pump to provide hydraulic support by reducing backpressure on the wells in the dual infield flowline and riser system.
Beacon said it expects Shenandoah Phase 2 activities to be conducted between 2025 and 2028 and to add about 110 million BOE of P50 resources. Participants in Phase 2 include Beacon, HEQ Deepwater, and Navitas Petroleum.
Beyond Phase 2, Beacon and its partners are advancing plans and ordering long-lead equipment to facilitate the development of the Shenandoah South discovery in Walker Ridge 95 in water depths between 5,800 and 6,000 ft as a subsea tieback to the Shenandoah production semisubmersible 3 miles away.
Shenandoah South is expected to include drilling and completing two wells with initial production from the first well expected to occur in the second quarter of 2028. Beacon estimates a total of 74 million BOE of P50 resources at Shenandoah South.
In a news release, Beacon CEO Scott Gutterman said the Shenandoah South project “would mark the second lower Wilcox subsea tieback that we plan to produce via our expanded Shenandoah production hub. Shenandoah South and our Monument development, which is expected to achieve first oil in the fourth quarter of 2026, represent the implementation of our strategy to commercialize the sizable discovered resource opportunities within tieback range of the Shenandoah FPS [floating production system]. When taken together, our Shenandoah, Shenandoah South, and Monument fields are estimated to deliver nearly 600 MMBOE of P50 resources.”
Participants in Shenandoah South include Beacon, Houston Energy, HEQ Deepwater, and Navitas Petroleum. FID for Shenandoah South is expected by the second quarter of 2025.
Zephyrus
Elsewhere in the Gulf of Mexico, Beacon has sanctioned the first phase of the Miocene-aged Zephyrus tieback to existing Shell-operated infrastructure. Zephyrus Phase 1 in Mississippi Canyon Block 759 is in water depths ranging from 3,100 to 3,600 ft. Beacon’s initial Zephyrus well in 2023 discovered high-quality oil in the Middle Miocene sand. The project will incorporate a high-integrity pressure production system into the nine-mile Zephyrus subsea infrastructure.
Beacon said the initial development plan includes completing the discovery well and drilling and completing one additional well. Both wells are projected to come on line in the fourth quarter of 2025. Beacon and its partners have signed a production handling agreement to connect the Zephyrus field to the Shell-operated West Boreas subsea infrastructure for further processing on the Shell operated Olympus production platform in the Mars Corridor.
Participants in Zephyrus include Beacon, Houston Energy, HEQ II, Red Willow Offshore, Westlawn GOM, and Murphy Exploration & Production.
Earlier this year, the Beacon-operated Winterfell development reached first oil.
