Chevron and its partner TotalEnergies have commenced oil and gas production from the Ballymore project in the deepwater Gulf of America.
The project represents a key component of Chevron’s strategic plan to escalate its production in the Gulf region, targeting 300,000 net barrels of oil equivalent per day by 2026.
Ballymore, connected via a subsea tieback to the existing Chevron-operated Blind Faith platform, is designed to produce up to 75,000 barrels of oil per day and 50 million cubic feet of gas per day.
Discovered in 2018, the Ballymore project was sanctioned in April 2022 by the partners with an investment of $1.6bn.
The development includes the drilling of three production wells, which connect to the Blind Faith platform through a 4.8km flowline. The field is located approximately 260km southeast of New Orleans at a depth of around 6,600ft.
Chevron Gulf of America vice president Brent Gros said: “Ballymore is an example of how we are leveraging technology and driving efficiencies to help produce affordable, reliable energy from the deepwater Gulf of America, one of the lowest carbon intensity oil and gas producing basins in the world.”
“Ballymore, which was completed on time and on budget, brings additional production online without building a new standalone offshore platform. This reduces our development costs and is expected to drive higher returns for shareholders.”
Ballymore, situated in the Mississippi Canyon area, is estimated to contain 150 million barrels of oil equivalent in gross recoverable resources over its operational life.
Chevron U.S.A., a subsidiary of Chevron, operates the Ballymore project with a 60% working interest, while TotalEnergies’ subsidiary TotalEnergies E&P USA holds a 40% stake.
TotalEnergies exploration and production president Nicolas Terraz said: “The start-up of Ballymore will increase TotalEnergies’ production capacity in US deepwater to more than 75,000boe/d and contribute to the company’s targeted hydrocarbon production growth of over 3% in 2025.
“The US is a major market for the deployment of our integrated energy model, which combines low breakeven and low emissions oil and gas projects with LNG and integrated power developments.”
