Royal Dutch Shell plc: Shell Produces First Oil from Phase 2 of Parque das Conchas, Offshore Brazil

THE HAGUE, The Netherlands, October 2, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

Shell (NYSE:RDS.A)(NYSE:RDS.B) and its partners have begun production from the second development phase of the Parque das Conchas (BC-10) project, located off Brazil's south-east coast. The BC-10 project (Shell share 50%, Petrobras 35%, ONGC 15%) is comprised of several subsea fields which are tied back to a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, named the Espírito Santo.

In 2009 the first phase of the project began production, when the Abalone and Ostra fields were connected, along with the Argonauta B-West reservoir. The peak production of the first phase was more than 90,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) in 2010, and is currently producing some 35,000 boe per day.  Phase 2 connected a fourth reservoir to the vessel, the Argonauta O-North. At its peak, Phase 2 is expected to produce approximately 35,000 boe per day.

"Boosting production at BC-10 with the completion of phase two is another great example of our successful project development, delivery and execution capabilities," said John Hollowell, Executive Vice President for Deep Water, Shell Upstream Americas. "It is a great day for Shell in Brazil."

Building on what was already a successful proving ground for technology innovation, a 4-D Life of Field Seismic monitoring system was installed as part of Phase 2 subsea development. This technology, consisting of a network of seismic sensors installed throughout the field on the seabed, allows us to more effectively and efficiently monitor the reservoir. This is the deepest installation of its kind on a full-field scale in the world (approximately 1800m or 6000 feet).

Expecting to maximize the production life of BC-10 even further, Shell and its partners recently announced in July the decision to move forward with the project's third development phase, which will include the installation of subsea-infrastructure at the Massa and Argonauta O-South reservoirs. Once online, Phase 3 of the BC-10 project is expected to reach a peak production of 28,000 boe.

BC-10 Phased Development Outline

Phase 1: Began production in 2009 from Abalone, Ostra and Argonauta (Argonauta B-West reservoir) fields.

Phase 2: Began production in October 2013 from Argonauta O-North field reservoir.

Phase 3: In July 2013, Shell and partners decide to move forward with development of the Massa and Argonauta O-South reservoirs.

Editors Notes:

• Shell is currently operating two FPSOs in Brazil's offshore - the Espírito Santo at Parque das Conchas and the Fluminense at the Bijupirá/Salema fields.
• Images are available on our Flickr feed

Cautionary Note

The companies in which Royal Dutch Shell plc directly and indirectly owns investments are separate entities. In this announcement "Shell", "Shell group" and "Royal Dutch Shell" are sometimes used for convenience where references are made to Royal Dutch Shell plc and its subsidiaries in general. Likewise, the words "we", "us" and "our" are also used to refer to subsidiaries in general or to those who work for them. These expressions are also used where no useful purpose is served by identifying the particular company or companies. "Subsidiaries", "Shell subsidiaries" and "Shell companies" as used in this announcement refer to companies over which Royal Dutch Shell plc  either directly or indirectly has control. Companies over which Shell has joint control are generally referred to "joint ventures" and companies over which Shell has significant influence but neither control nor joint control are referred to as "associates". In this announcement, joint ventures and associates may also be referred to as "equity-accounted investments". The term "Shell interest" is used for convenience to indicate the direct and/or indirect (for example, through our 23% shareholding in Woodside Petroleum Ltd.) ownership interest held by Shell in a venture, partnership or company, after exclusion of all third-party interest.

This announcement contains forward-looking statements concerning the financial condition, results of operations and businesses of Royal Dutch Shell. All statements other than statements of historical fact are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements of future expectations that are based on management's current expectations and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements. Forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements concerning the potential exposure of Royal Dutch Shell to market risks and statements expressing management's expectations, beliefs, estimates, forecasts, projections and assumptions. These forward-looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as "anticipate", "believe", "could", "estimate", "expect", "goals", "intend", "may", "objectives", "outlook", "plan", "probably", "project", "risks", "schedule", "seek", "should", "target", "will" and similar terms and phrases. There are a number of factors that could affect the future operations of Royal Dutch Shell and could cause those results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements included in this announcement, including (without limitation): (a) price fluctuations in crude oil and natural gas; (b) changes in demand for Shell's products; (c) currency fluctuations; (d) drilling and production results; (e) reserves estimates; (f) loss of market share and industry competition; (g) environmental and physical risks; (h) risks associated with the identification of suitable potential acquisition properties and targets, and successful negotiation and completion of such transactions; (i) the risk of doing business in developing countries and countries subject to international sanctions; (j) legislative, fiscal and regulatory developments including regulatory measures addressing climate change; (k) economic and financial market conditions in various countries and regions; (l) political risks, including the risks of expropriation and renegotiation of the terms of contracts with governmental entities, delays or advancements in the approval of projects and delays in the reimbursement for shared costs; and (m) changes in trading conditions. All forward-looking statements contained in this announcement are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in this section. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Additional risk factors that may affect future results are contained in Royal Dutch Shell's 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2012 (available at http://www.shell.com/investor and http://www.sec.gov). These risk factors also expressly qualify all forward looking statements contained in this announcement and should be considered by the reader.  Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this announcement, October 2, 2013. Neither Royal Dutch Shell plc nor any of its subsidiaries undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or other information. In light of these risks, results could differ materially from those stated, implied or inferred from the forward-looking statements contained in this announcement.

We may have used certain terms, such as resources, in this announcement that United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) strictly prohibits us from including in our filings with the SEC.  U.S. Investors are urged to consider closely the disclosure in our Form 20-F, File No 1-32575, available on the SEC website http://www.sec.gov. You can also obtain these forms from the SEC by calling 1-800-SEC-0330.

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SOURCE Royal Dutch Shell plc

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