Shell has said it halved the development cost and accelerated the commercialisation of its new deepwater oil field in the Gulf of Mexico by exploiting existing wells rather than drilling new ones . It had used a simplified and standardised design for the well and incorporated existing processing equipment , Shell said . Production has started a year ahead of schedule and the company said it had reduced the predicted break - even price of a barrel of oil to $ 1 . It also persuaded some of its customers to standardise their own subsea wells .
Shell has said it halved the development cost and accelerated the commercialisation of its Kaikias deepwater oil field in the Gulf of Mexico by exploiting existing wells rather than drilling new ones. It had used a simplified and standardised design for the wells and incorporated existing processing equipment, Shell said. Production has started a year ahead of schedule and the company said it had reduced the predicted break-even price of a barrel of oil to $30. It also persuaded some of its vendors to standardise their own subsea equipment.