Shell Offshore Inc., a subsidiary of Shell plc, has made a final investment decision on a waterflooding project at its Vito asset in the US Gulf of Mexico. The project, set to begin in 2027, aims to increase oil recovery by injecting water into the reservoir.

The Vito field, discovered in 2009, is located in over 4,000 feet of water approximately 75 miles south of Venice, Louisiana. Shell is the operator with a 63.11% interest, and Equinor holds the remaining 36.89%. The field was initially developed in 2018, with first oil achieved in February 2023. The original Vito host design was simplified and rescoped in 2015, resulting in a reduction of approximately 80% in CO2 emissions over the facility's lifetime as well as a cost reduction of more than 70% from the original host design concept.

Zoë Yujnovich, Shell Integrated Gas and Upstream Director, said, "Over time, we've seen the benefits of waterflood as we look to fill our hubs in the Gulf of Mexico. This investment will deliver additional high-margin, lower-carbon barrels from our advantaged Upstream business while maximizing our potential from Vito."

Waterflooding is a secondary recovery method where injected water sweeps oil to adjacent production wells while re-pressurizing the reservoir. The three water injection wells were all drilled as pre-producers.

The project is expected to increase recoverable resource volume by 60 million barrels of oil equivalent. The estimate of resources volumes is currently classified as 2P and 2C under the Society of Petroleum Engineers' Resource Classification System.

Shell is the leading deep-water operator in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, where its production has among the lowest greenhouse gas intensity in the world for producing oil. The company aims to see production stabilize at 1.4 million barrels per day of liquids by 2030.