Bigger than the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the Appomattox platform arrived in Ingleside on Oct. 5 to receive its finishing touches. More than 60 percent of the massive structure was built in Geoje, South Korea. Kiewit Offshore Services in the Coastal Bend will add topsides before the vessel is deployed into the Gulf of Mexico to drill for oil and gas.
The Appomattox is the largest and heaviest cargo transported to date, according to COSCO Shipping Heavy Transport, which delivered the vessel across the oceans.
“We are very proud to have worked closely with Shell and be part of the Appomattox project’s overall success,” said Josh Wilson, vice president of business development for COSCO.
The hull will initially produce from the Appomattox and Vicksburg fields some 80 miles off the coast of Louisiana. Average peak production is estimated at 175,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
The semi-submersible, four-column production host platform features six drill centers, 15 producing wells and five water-injection wells.
The project began in 2015 when Shell awarded contracts to fabricator Kiewit Offshore Services in Ingleside and Samsung Heavy Industries of South Korea.
The Appomattox will be Shell’s eighth and largest floating production system in the Gulf. It is expected to begin producing by the end of the decade. When it is placed in 7,200 feet of water and put to work, it will be among the deepest production systems in the Gulf of Mexico. The platform weighs more than 125,000 tonnes.