Shell starts production from second Mars platform in gulf

Shell Oil Co. has started production from its Mars B development through Olympus, a tension-leg platform in 3,100 ft of water 130 miles south of New Orleans in the Gulf of Mexico (OGJ Online, Oct. 5, 2010). Shell expects the added production from Olympus to extend the life of the greater Mars basin to 2050 and deliver a resource base of an estimated 1 billion boe.

Shell discovered Mars field in 1989 and production began in 1996 (OGJ, Oct 11, 1993, p. 28). The Mars B development, a joint venture with BP PLC, includes subsea wells at West Boreas and South Deimos fields, export pipelines, and a shallow-water platform near the Louisiana coast. Using the Olympus platform and a floating drill rig, the company claims it will ramp up to a peak of 100,000 boe/d by 2016. The field produced about 60,000 boe/d in 2013.

Olympus is Shell’s seventh deepwater platform in the gulf and the first deep-water project in the gulf to expand an existing oil and gas field with new infrastructure, according to the company.