Chevron adds Gulf of Mexico production with Ballymore subsea tieback startup
Chevron Corp. has started producing oil and natural gas from the Ballymore subsea tieback in the deepwater Mississippi Canyon area of the US Gulf of Mexico, the company said in a release Apr. 21.
Chevron Corp. sanctioned the Ballymore project in 2018, four years after its discovery. The discovery well, drilled to a final depth of 8,898 m about 120 km offshore Louisiana in 2,000 m of water, encountered 205 m of net oil pay in a high-quality Jurassic Norphlet reservoir (OGJ Online, Jan. 31, 2018; May 12, 2022).
Ballymore, the operator’s first in the Norphlet trend of the Gulf, has been developed as a three-mile subsea tieback to the existing Chevron-operated Blind Faith semisubmersible platform and is expected to produce up to 75,000 gross b/d of oil and 50 MMcfd of gas.
With estimated potentially recoverable resources of 150 MMboe gross over the life of the project, Ballymore adds to Chevron’s goal to produce 300,000 net boe/d from the US Gulf of Mexico in 2026.
Since midyear 2024, Chevron has added to its Gulf of Mexico production through its operated Anchor project and non-operated Whale project. The company also began water injection to boost output at its operated Tahiti and Jack/St. Malo infrastructure.
Chevron subsidiary Chevron USA Inc. is operator of the Ballymore project with 60% working interest. TotalEnergies E&P USA Inc. holds the remaining 40% working interest.
