Shell hires Williams Partners for Appomattox gas gathering

Shell and Nexen Petroleum, partners in the Appomattox development in the Gulf of Mexico, have hired Williams Partners to deliver deepwater gas gathering services for the project.

The development is located 80 miles offshore from the nearest shoreline in Louisiana, in approximately 7,200 feet of water. Shell is 79 percent owner and operator in the Appomattox development while Nexen holds 21 percent.

Williams Partners on Friday said it would provide offshore gas gathering services to its existing Transco lateral, which will provide transmission services onshore to its Mobile Bay processing facility.

The company also plans to make modifications to its Main Pass 261 Platform and install an alternate delivery route for customers from the platform to the existing Destin Pipeline for transportation to another onshore processing facility.

No financial aspects of this contract have been revealed.

Rory Miller, senior vice president of Williams Partners’ Atlantic-Gulf operating area, said: “We’re pleased to expand our existing infrastructure to serve the growing needs of deepwater producers.

“This establishes Williams Partners as the first gas gathering system in a new geographic area with capacity available and opportunities for future tie-backs.”

The Appomattox development host will consist of a semi-submersible, four-column production host platform, a subsea system featuring six drill centres, 15 producing wells, and five water injection wells.

Shell made the final investment decision (FID) to advance the Appomattox development on July 1, 2015.