Long-Term Projects

Floating production, storage and offloading vessels—FPSOs, for short—allow for hydrocarbon production in waters too deep for conventional offshore platforms. While FPSOs have been in limited use around the world since the mid-1970s, they remain a relative rarity in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), mostly because oil and natural gas has been available in shallower parts of the Gulf closer to shore. Now, Royal Dutch Shell will be taking a spanking-new FPSO into the deepest waters yet--9,500 feet, or almost two miles down--for its mammoth Stones development 200 miles off the Louisiana coast. Today, we look at the Stones project, the growing role of FPSOs, and the long-term perspective taken by exploration and production (E&P) companies in the GOM.