US energy giant pulls off oil & gas uplift at Gulf of Mexico deepwater duo

U.S.-headquartered energy giant Chevron has taken steps to raise the oil and natural gas recovery bar at two facilities in the deepwater U.S. Gulf of Mexico in line with its plans to increase production in this region.

After embarking on water injection operations at two projects to boost oil and natural gas recovery at its existing Jack/St. Malo and Tahiti facilities in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, Chevron confirmed the achievement of the first water injection at the St. Malo field, referring to it as its first waterflood project in the deepwater Wilcox trend.

The U.S. oil major underlines that the project, perceived to be delivered under budget, is expected to add approximately 175 million barrels of oil equivalent to the St. Malo field’s gross ultimate recovery, with the addition of water injection facilities, two new production wells, and two new injection wells.

Located in around 7,000 feet (2,134 m) of water approximately 280 miles (450 km) south of New Orleans, Louisiana, the St. Malo field and Jack/St. Malo facility started production in 2014, having cumulatively produced almost 400 million gross barrels of oil equivalent.

Chevron, through its subsidiary Union Oil Company of California, is the operator of the St. Malo field and, together with its subsidiary Chevron U.S.A., holds a 51% working interest. The other co-owners are MP Gulf of Mexico (25%), Equinor Gulf of Mexico (21.5%), Exxon Mobil Corporation (1.25%), and Eni Petroleum US (1.25%).

On the other hand, Chevron also began injecting water into its first deepwater Gulf producer-to-injector conversion wells at the Tahiti facility approximately 190 miles (306 km) south of New Orleans in around 4,100 feet (1,250 m) of water. The project entailed the installation of a new water injection manifold and 20,000 feet of flexible water injection flowline.

While the Tahiti facility recently surpassed 500 million gross barrels of oil-equivalent cumulative production since the start of operations in 2009, the energy giant highlights its ongoing efforts to study advanced drilling, completion, and production technologies that could be employed in future development phases at Tahiti and Jack/St. Malo to further up the recovery ante from these fields.

Chevron U.S.A. is the operator of the Tahiti facility with a 58% working interest while its co-owners, Equinor Gulf of Mexico and TotalEnergies E&P USA, hold 25% and 17% stakes, respectively.

Bruce Niemeyer, President of Chevron Americas Exploration & Production, commented: “Delivery of these two projects maximizes returns from our existing resource base and contributes toward growing our production to 300,000 net barrels of oil equivalent per day in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico by 2026.

“These achievements follow the recent production startup at our high-pressure Anchor field, reinforcing Chevron’s position as a leader in technological delivery and project execution in the Gulf.”

Chevron and TotalEnergies unlocked more untapped hydrocarbon resources at Anchor in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico with 20,000 psi (20K) technology, bringing oil and natural gas from one of the industry’s first ultra-high pressure projects to the market and paving the way for the development of future ultra-high pressure, high-temperature discoveries around the world.

The U.S. player is also pursuing other hydrocarbon projects in its international portfolio, including an offshore gas field in Cyprus for which the firm recently submitted an updated development plan to the country’s government.