Shell and its joint venture announce the start of oil production from the third phase of the deep-water Parque das Conchas (BC-10) development in Brazil's Campos Basin. Production for this final phase of the project is expected to add up to 20,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) at peak production, from fields that have already produced more than 100-million barrels since 2009.

"The safe, early delivery of this production is a testament to the efficiency of our deep-water project execution," said Wael Sawan, Executive Vice-President, Deep Water, Shell. "With this phased project, we have again demonstrated value from standardization, synergies from contractual relationships, and the strategic deployment of new technologies. These barrels, like other subsea tieback opportunities across our deep-water portfolio, have development cost advantages and will contribute to the strong production growth we expect from offshore Brazil."

Shell is a global leader in deep water with a strong development pipeline following last month's completion of the BG combination, across offshore Brazil, the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, Nigeria, and Malaysia.

Operated by Shell (50%) and owned together with ONGC (27%) and QPI (23%), Parque das Conchas Phase 3 comprises five producing wells in two Campos Basin fields (Massa and O-South) and two water-injection wells. The subsea wells sit in water depths greater than 5,900-feet (1,800-meters) and connect to a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, the Espirito Santo, located more than 90-miles (150-kilometers) offshore Brazil.

Parque das Conchas Phase 3 is the latest, major deep-water project for Shell. Shell deep-water sanctioned projects currently in development include, the Stones project, whose FPSO vessel is now on location in the Gulf of Mexico, and the Appomattox project, also a Gulf of Mexico project, now under construction. Shell is also part of a consortium exploring and developing the giant, pre-salt Libra field, offshore Brazil, and recently completed the acquisition of BG, which includes significant deep-water Brazil positions.