McDermott Completes Pipelay Ops at Shell’s Deepwater Whale Development
March 5, 2025
McDermott has completed the engineering, procurement, construction, installation, and commissioning (EPCIC) activities at Shell’s deepwater Whale development in the Gulf of Mexico, which started production through new platform in January 2025.
Awarded to McDermott in 2021, the project leveraged the company’s marine assets, including its North Ocean 102 vessel and the newly upgraded Amazon, to execute complex pipelay operations, reaching water depths of nearly 2,800 meters (9,100 feet).
This included installing approximately 50 kilometers (30 miles) of pipeline and 15 kilometers (9 miles) of umbilicals connecting five subsea drill centers to the new Whale floating production platform.
Designed for complex offshore operations, the Amazon delivered an advanced ultra-deepwater pipelay system with a high-level of automation.
In a Gulf of Mexico first, it installed five 3,350 meters-long (approximately 11,000 feet), steel catenary risers, showcasing the vessel's high top tension capacity, and marking a significant milestone for subsea infrastructure projects.
"The completion of the Whale project demonstrates the power of collaboration, engineering expertise, and ingenuity. Our relationship with Shell is one marked by trust, a focus on operational excellence, and solution-oriented project delivery. Together, we overcame challenges and made history with the debut of the Amazon in the Gulf of Mexico, highlighting its strategic value for subsea field developments in ultra-deepwater environments,” said Mahesh Swaminathan, McDermott's Senior Vice President, Subsea and Floating Facilities.
The Shell Whale development, located about 200 miles southwest of Houston, features a semi-submersible production platform, with capability for remote operations and monitoring of almost every aspect of the facility.
The Whale production facility, which was brought on stream in January 2025, is in the Alaminos Canyon Block 773, adjacent to the Shell-operated Silvertip field, around 10 miles (16 kilometres) from the Shell-operated Perdido platform.
With an estimated peak production of 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d), Whale currently has an estimated recoverable resource volume of 480 million boe.
