Shell Invests In Kaikias Waterflood To Unlock Production In Gulf Of America

Shell Offshore Inc., a subsidiary of Shell plc, has taken a final investment decision (FID) on a waterflood project at its Kaikias field in the US Gulf of America. Water will be injected to displace additional oil in the reservoir formation which supplies production to Shell’s Ursa platform in the Mars Corridor.

Waterflood is a method of secondary recovery where the injected water physically sweeps the displaced oil to adjacent production wells, while re-pressurizing the reservoir. First injection is expected in 2028 and is anticipated to extend the production lifecycle of Ursa by several years.

“Following our decision to increase our stake in Ursa earlier this year, this additional investment continues to maximise the value of the asset,” said Peter Costello, Shell’s Upstream President. “It also contributes to our aim of maximising high-margin production and longevity in a core basin to maintain liquids production.”

Shell is the leading deep-water operator in the US Gulf of America, where our production has among the lowest greenhouse gas intensity in the world.

• In August 2014, the Kaikias field (Shell 100% working interest (WI)) was discovered in more than 4,000 feet (1,219 metres) of water, approximately 130 miles (209 kilometres) off the coast of Louisiana.
• Production from the Kaikias field began in May 2018 with flowback to Shell’s Ursa platform.
• Shell is the operator of the Ursa Tension Leg Platform and holds 61.3484% ownership in the asset with BP Exploration & Production Inc. 22.6916% and ECP GOM III, LLC 15.96%. In February, Shell announced its acquisition of additional WI in Ursa.
• The Kaikias waterflood project is estimated to increase recoverable resource volume by ~60 million metric barrels of oil equivalent (P50). The estimate of resources volumes is currently classified as 2P under the Society of Petroleum Engineers’ Resource Classification System.
• The reference to our US Gulf of America production having among the lowest greenhouse gas intensity in the world is a comparison among other members of the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers.
• As communicated at Shell’s Capital Markets Day in 2025, we aim to sustain liquids production at around 1.4 million barrels of oil equivalent per day until 2030.
• The estimated recoverable resources presented above are 100% total gross figures.

Shell’s net carbon intensity
Also, in this press release we may refer to Shell’s “net carbon intensity” (NCI), which includes Shell’s carbon emissions from the production of our energy products, our suppliers’ carbon emissions in supplying energy for that production and our customers’ carbon emissions associated with their use of the energy products we sell. Shell’s NCI also includes the emissions associated with the production and use of energy products produced by others which Shell purchases for resale. Shell only controls its own emissions. The use of the terms Shell’s “net carbon intensity” or NCI is for convenience only and not intended to suggest these emissions are those of Shell plc or its subsidiaries.

Shell’s net-zero emissions target
Shell’s operating plan and outlook are forecasted for a three-year period and ten-year period, respectively, and are updated every year. They reflect the current economic environment and what we can reasonably expect to see over the next three and ten years. Accordingly, the outlook reflects our Scope 1, Scope 2 and NCI targets over the next ten years. However, Shell’s operating plan and outlook cannot reflect our 2050 net-zero emissions target, as this target is outside our planning period. Such future operating plans and outlooks could include changes to our portfolio, efficiency improvements and the use of carbon capture and storage and carbon credits. In the future, as society moves towards net-zero emissions, we expect Shell’s operating plans and outlooks to reflect this movement. However, if society is not net zero in 2050, as of today, there would be significant risk that Shell may not meet this target.