Shell adds new, deep-water production with latest FPSO in Brazil

News provided by

Oct 24, 2018, 09:55 ET

RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct. 24, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- New, deep-water production is underway today at the Lula Extreme South in the Brazilian Santos Basin. Royal Dutch Shell plc, through its subsidiary Shell Brasil Petróleo Ltda. (Shell) and consortium partners, announces that the FPSO P-69 is now producing.

Operated by Petrobras, P-69 is a standardized vessel that can process up to 150,000 barrels of oil and 6 million cubic meters of natural gas daily. It will ramp up production through eight producing and seven injection wells.

The FPSO P-69 is a standardized production vessel offshore Brazil with a capacity for 150,000 barrels of oil and 6 million cubic feet of natural gas a day.

"The Brazilian pre-salt fields are some of the best deep-water provinces in the world," said Andy Brown, Upstream Director for Shell. "With significant flow rates, deep-water Brazil projects are breaking even under $40 per barrel. We commend Petrobras on this production milestone, and we look forward to progressing additional development plans with our consortium partners as well as for our recently-acquired, deep-water Brazil blocks."

Following Lula Extreme South, the next FPSO is P-67 for Lula North. The Libra product sharing agreement continues to progress with an extended well test as well as the Mero 1 FPSO, and additional FPSOs are planned. Shell also has development drilling planned for its operated, Gato do Mato South field in 2019.

Shell has a 25 percent stake in the Lula consortium, operated by Petrobras (65 percent). Galp, through its subsidiary Petrogal Brasil, holds the remaining 10 percent interest.

Editor's Notes:

P-69 is Shell's 14^th deep water FPSO in Brazil, which includes FPSOs in the pre-Salt Campos and Santos Basin. Shell operates the BC-10 and Bijupira & Salema FPSOs.
Shell's interest in the Lula field is subject to unitization agreements.
Shell's deep water business produces approximately 740 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) and is expected to reach approximately 900 thousand boe/d by 2020 from already discovered, established areas.
Recent bid rounds offer Shell significant potential for additional deep-water discoveries, bringing the company's total operated presence offshore Brazil to 27 concessions and approximately 2.7 million acres.
The forward-looking breakeven price presented above is calculated based on all forward-looking costs associated from FID. Accordingly, this typically excludes exploration and appraisal costs, lease bonuses, exploration seismic and exploration team overhead costs. The forward-looking breakeven price is calculated based on our estimate of resources volumes that are currently classified as 2p and 2c under the Society of Petroleum Engineers' Resource Classification System. As this project is expected to be multi-decade producing, the less than $40 per barrel projection will not be reflected either in earnings or cash flow in the next five years.

Cautionary Note

The companies in which Royal Dutch Shell plc directly and indirectly owns investments are separate legal entities. In this release "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 Royal Dutch Shell plc and its subsidiaries in general or to those who work for them. These terms are also used where no useful purpose is served by identifying the particular entity or entities. ''Subsidiaries'', "Shell subsidiaries" and "Shell companies" as used in this release refer to entities over which Royal Dutch Shell plc either directly or indirectly has control. Entities and unincorporated arrangements over which Shell has joint control are generally referred to as "joint ventures" and "joint operations", respectively. Entities over which Shell has significant influence but neither control nor joint control are referred to as "associates". The term "Shell interest" is used for convenience to indicate the direct and/or indirect ownership interest held by Shell in an entity or unincorporated joint arrangement, after exclusion of all third-party interest.

This release contains forward-looking statements (within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995) 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 "aim", "ambition', ''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 release, 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. No assurance is provided that future dividend payments will match or exceed previous dividend payments. All forward-looking statements contained in this release 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 Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2017 (available at www.shell.com/investor and www.sec.gov ). These risk factors also expressly qualify all forward-looking statements contained in this release and should be considered by the reader. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this release, October 24, 2018. 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 release.

We may have used certain terms, such as resources, in this release that the 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 www.sec.gov.

SOURCE Shell