NorthAmOil: Shell starts production at PowerNap project in Gulf

Shell announced on March 29 that it had started production at the PowerNap project in the US Gulf of Mexico. PowerNap is a subsea tieback to the Olympus platform, which is also operated by Shell and located in the Mars Corridor.
The PowerNap project has an estimated peak production rate of 20,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) from three wells. Shell noted that the oil would be produced using a single insulated 19-mile (31-km) flowline and high-pressure gas lift capability.
From Olympus, PowerNap’s output will be transported to market on the Mars pipeline.
"Shell has been producing in the Mars Corridor for more than 25 years, and we continue to find ways to unlock even more value there," stated Shell’s upstream director, Zoe Yujnovich.
Subsea tiebacks have been popular in the Gulf in recent years amid low oil prices, which deterred companies from investing in more capital-intensive new offshore platforms. Now oil prices are back above $100 per barrel, but offshore producers are likely to remain wary of major new projects owing to their decarbonisation targets. That said, Shell noted in its announcement that its Gulf output is among the lowest in terms of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions intensity in the world for producing oil.