Williams Partners has signed an agreement with Shell Offshore and Nexen Petroleum Offshore to provide deepwater gas gathering services to the Appomattox development in the Gulf of Mexico.
The development is located 80 miles offshore from the nearest shoreline in Louisiana, US, at depths of 7,200ft.
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Shell owns and operates Appomattox with a 79% interest, while Nexen, a wholly owned subsidiary of CNOOC, owns the remaining 21%.
Under the agreement, Williams Partners will provide offshore gas gathering services to its existing Transco lateral, which will offer transmission services onshore to its Mobile Bay processing facility.
The company also plans to modify its Main Pass 261 Platform and also install an alternate delivery route for customers from the platform to the existing Destin Pipeline.
This enables transportation of gas to another onshore processing facility.
Williams Partners Atlantic-Gulf operating area senior vice-president Rory Miller 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.”
Shell announced the final investment decision in July 2015 to advance the Appomattox deepwater development.
Initially, the development will produce from the Appomattox and Vicksburg fields and average peak production is expected to reach approximately 175,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day.
