Shell Ursa Field Producing Ahead of Schedule

Shell Exploration production at the Ursa project located under 4,000 ft. of water in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico started in March, four months ahead of schedule. Current production was at 13,000 bpd of crude oil and 20 million cu.-ft. of natural gas from the first well. Shell estimates total recovery of about 400 million barrels of oil equivalent from the field. Shell Deepwater Production, a unit of Royal Dutch/Shell, is the operator, controlling a 45 percent interest in Ursa. BP Amoco has a 23 percent interest, and Conoco and Exxon each hold 16 percent in Ursa. Ursa's tension leg platform is located about 130 miles southeast of New Orleans on Mississippi Canyon Block 809 and is the largest structure in the Gulf. Despite the current environment of weak crude oil prices, which has forced the oil major to cut exploration and production spending by $800 million, Shell officials said the company was committed to its development projects in the U.S. Gulf. Ursa is one of six new deep water projects Shell has in the Gulf of Mexico. Shell's planned projects include 60,000 bpd Europa, 35,000 bpd Macaroni and 40,000 bpd Angus fields.