Whale: Setting new standards for deep water
The most efficient of Shell鈥檚 oil and gas platforms in the Gulf of America, formerly named Gulf of Mexico, Whale joins our leading deep-water portfolio to help deliver the secure energy the world needs today.
January 9, 2025
Read time: 4 mins
From desk to deep water: Whale starts production
In a control room in New Orleans, Shell staff start up the Whale platform 600 kilometres away in the Gulf of America. With just 60 people on board and a simplified design, Whale is reducing costs and emissions.
Engineering by design: Shell鈥檚 latest platform
Project manager Oro Awaritefe explains how Whale replicates its predecessor, Vito, to become Shell鈥檚 most efficient platform in the Gulf of America to date.
Whale in numbers
100,000
barrels of oil equivalent a day expected peak production - enough to fuel the daily journeys of 2.7 million cars in the USA.
30%
lower carbon intensity over its life cycle than Vito, another deep-water platform in the Gulf of America.
2,600
metres (8,600 feet) below the water鈥檚 surface - three times the height of the world鈥檚 tallest building*, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
*as of 2024
Providing the energy the world needs today
Whale will make a significant contribution towards Shell鈥檚 commitment to produce 500,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day from 2023 through 2025.
Zoom in on Whale
- Discovered in 2017, the Whale oil and gas field lies beneath more than 2,600 metres (8,600 feet) of water around 320 kilometres (200 miles) south of Houston in the USA.
- Whale is the second of three planned oil and gas platforms with a similar design. The prototype, Vito, started production in early 2023. The third platform, Sparta, is under construction. It is scheduled to start operations in 2028.
- Whale is Shell鈥檚 14th deep-water development in the Gulf of America, where our production has some of the lowest greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity in the world for producing oil.
