Shell Offshore Begins Gas Production at the Dover Subsea Development

Shell Offshore started oil production at the Dover subsea development tieback, located 170 miles offshore of New Orleans, LA, in the Mississippi Canyon in approximately 7,500 feet of water. Expected to produce up to 20,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, Dover is the second tieback to the Appomattox production hub in the Gulf of America; the first was Rydberg, which came online in February 2024.

The subsea development’s two production wells will be connected to Appomattox via a 17.5-mile flowline and riser. Shell’s current Dover estimates claim approximately 44.5 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalent, providing stable and secure energy resources for both domestic and international use. Shell Offshore discovered the Dover Reserve in 2018.

"Shell continues to unlock more value from the prolific basins in our portfolio," said Colette Hirstius, Executive Vice President, Gulf of America. "Dover is another example of the ways in which we maximize the production of our deep-water hubs as we deliver on our strategy to create more value with less emissions. The high-margin, lower carbon barrels from the Gulf of America are essential to our energy system, both now and in the future."

These resource estimates are classified as 2P under the Society of Petroleum Engineers’ Resource Classification System: This classification represents the sum of proven and probable reserves. Shell Offshore’s Gulf of America production emits among the lowest oil-related greenhouse gas emissions globally.

The company maintains 100% working interest in the Dover subsea development and approximately 79% in the Appomattox production hub, with INEOS Energy Petroleum Offshore USA holding the remaining 21%.

More Shell News

In late January 2025, Shell Energy North America (SENA) completed the 100% equity stake acquisition of RISEC Holdings, which owns a combined-cycle power plant in Rhode Island. The acquisition cements SENA’s presence as an independent system operator in New England’s power market, in which demand is expected to increase over the next decades. Growing decarbonization initiatives, such as low-carbon transportation and home heating, may increase New England’s power demand.

RISEC’s two-unit combined-cycle gas turbine power plant, completed in and operating since 2002, has a 609-MW maximum capacity and an average operating capacity of 594 MW. This acquisition allows Shell to continue an agreement signed in 2019, securing long-term energy supply and capacity offtake from the plant—this maintains SENA’s current operations and reduces market risk by delivering a reliable and stable power generation source.

This power plant generates electricity via two gas turbines and captures waste heat to produce steam. Then, its steam turbines produce additional power to enhance efficiency and minimize emissions compared to single-cycle power plants. The facility, located outside Providence, will deliver reliable, flexible power to balance intermittent renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar.

And in March 2024, Bloom Energy partnered with Shell to study decarbonization solutions with Bloom’s proprietary hydrogen electrolyzer technology. The companies will collaborate to develop replicable, large-scale, solid oxide electrolyzer (SOEC) systems that will produce hydrogen for use at Shell assets. The partnership will help the advancement of decarbonization opportunities for new SOEC technology.