Description
From Shell's first deepwater play, the Green Canyon 65 Bullwinkle fixed platform development, to the company's latest Gulf of Mexico tension leg platform Brutus, expectations for deepwater projects have changed dramatically. Key subsurface development drivers in deepwater fields will be presented with respect to what has changed, what we have learned, and where we are now. Shell has seen fundamental changes in the understanding of deepwater reservoirs and their performance and has used this new knowledge to improve the upcoming Bonga deepwater FPSO development off Nigeria. Well rates, ultimate recovery, recovery factors, rock and fluid properties, and reservoir continuity are all viewed differently since Shell's first deepwater project began.