Shell confirms major deepwater Gulf of Mexico discovery

HOUSTON -- Kaikias is a high-value opportunity in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, located in close proximity to existing Shell infrastructure in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico heartland. Kaikias builds upon Shell’s exploration and development leadership position in the Mars-Ursa basin.

Near field infrastructure to the Kaikias well presents opportunities for cost efficiencies, potentially reducing the overall development cost. Managing costs and ensuring project competitiveness continues to be a focus for Shell.

In fact, Shell completed the drilling and appraisal of Kaikias ahead of schedule and under budget, allowing the company to achieve more than 20% in cost savings. This achievement was reached despite the company drilling the longest well ever drilled by Shell at 34,500 ft measured depth.

Shell discovered Kaikias in August 2014, and appraisal drilling revealed more than 300 ft of net oil pay in August 2015. The development potential of Kaikias could exceed 100 MMbbl of oil equivalent recoverable. Full evaluation of the well results continues. The Mars-Ursa basin is characterized as having high quality oil in world-class quality reservoirs. Shell owns and operates three infrastructure hosts in the Mars-Ursa basin making it a key strategic hub.