Oil and gas major Shell said on Thursday it had started production at the offshore floating facility Whale located in the Gulf of Mexico.

The new Whale development is up and running following President Joe Biden’s drilling ban along much of the U.S. coastline.

Shell Plc began production at its ‘Whale’ floating facility in the Gulf of Mexico, which is expected to reach daily peak production of 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent.

The Whale final investment decision was delayed a year because of Shell’s cash-preservation strategy during the Covid-19 pandemic, Shell said. “Whale demonstrates our focus on

Whale's estimated peak output is 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), with 480 million barrels of oil equivalent (mboe) in recoverable resources.

Chevron Corp. has announced the start of oil production from the Whale semi-submersible platform in the deepwater US Gulf of Mexico. Chevron USA Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Chevron Corporation,