Shell restores Gulf of Mexico production disrupted by Hurricane Ida

Shell Offshore Inc. has restored Gulf of Mexico production previously offline due to facilities damage caused by Hurricane Ida in August.

The Royal Dutch Shell PLC subsidiary restarted production at Mars and Ursa platforms and began exporting oil and gas through the West Delta-143 (WD-143) “A” facility.

With WD-143 “A” now operational, the Mars Oil Pipeline Co. has resumed normal operations. 

On Oct. 1, Shell restarted production at the Olympus platform and began exporting oil and gas through the West Delta-143 (WD-143) “C” facility.

When Mars and Ursa are fully ramped up, the company will have 100% of Shell-operated production in the Gulf of Mexico back online, ahead of schedule from initial estimates (OGJ Online, Sept. 20, 2021).

The WD-143 facilities serve as the transfer station for all production from Shell’s assets in the Mars corridor in the Mississippi Canyon area of the Gulf of Mexico to onshore crude terminals. Production from Olympus flows across WD-143 “C” while production from Mars and Ursa facilities flow across WD-143 “A”.

The WD-143 platform, owned by Shell Offshore Inc. (71.5%) and BP Exploration & Production Inc. (28.5%), is operated by Shell Pipeline Co. LP.

The Mars corridor consists of Shell-operated tension leg platforms Mars, Olympus, and Ursa. Shell is operator at Mars and Olympus (71.5%) with partner BP Exploration & Production Inc. (28.5%). Shell is operator at Ursa (45.3884%) with partners BP Exploration & Production Inc. (22.6916%), ExxonMobil Corp. (15.9600%), and ConocoPhillips Co. (15.9600%).