Shell Offshore and Shell Pipeline Company Limited (SPLC), subsidiaries of Shell, have increased their stake in the Ursa platform in the Gulf of Mexico from 45.39% to 61.35%.
The two subsidiaries signed an agreement in February this year to increase their working interest in the platform with the purchase of a 15.96% working interest from ConocoPhillips Company (COP).
The move is part of Shell’s strategy to invest in profitable and carbon-competitive oil and gas projects that have a robust integrated value chain.
Furthermore, expanding Shell’s interest in existing assets supports stable liquids production from its “advantaged” upstream business.
Shell is the operator of the Ursa tension-leg platform (TLP) and holds a 61.35% working interest ownership, alongside BP Exploration & Production with 22.69% and ECP GOM III with 15.96%.
The transaction with ConocoPhillips Company also comprises a 11.81% membership interest in the Shell-operated Ursa Oil Pipeline Company, now held by SPLC; COP’s 1% working interest in the Europa prospect, which is also operated by Shell; and COP’s 3.5% overriding royalty interest in Ursa.
This royalty interest was acquired by COP as part of its merger with Marathon Oil Corporation, completed in November 2024.
The Ursa TLP, which began production in 1999, is situated approximately 209km south-east of New Orleans in the Mars Basin, a prolific hydrocarbon region.
Over the past 25 years, the /Princess field has produced a gross total of more than 800 million barrels of oil equivalent.
This latest deal comes after Shell Eastern Trading finalised the purchase of Pavilion Energy last month.
The deal includes Pavilion Energy’s LNG portfolio, which has a contracted supply volume of around 6.5 million tonnes per annum.
In April, Reuters reported that Shell is set to finish a marine survey at Venezuela’s Dragon offshore gas field.
