Shell greenlights Whale venture

Gulf of Mexico FIDs may be waning, but latest approval shows they can still be viable

Shell has reached FID on the Whale development in the US Gulf of Mexico, the company announced on 26 July. The move comes at a time when deepwater FIDs on new standalone developments in the Gulf have become rare, and illustrates it is still possible to move forward with such projects. The FID announcement comes as Shell is stepping up its decarbonisation efforts. Indeed, the company says Whale will use energy-efficient gas turbines and compression systems, adding the Gulf has among the lowest greenhouse gas intensities in the world for producing oil. “Shell approving Whale does not come as a surprise to us, given the quality of the asset,” says Jared Kugler, a senior associate at data analyt