Ballymore Oil Field Development

The Ballymore project is an offshore oil field development planned to be undertaken in the deepwater US Gulf of Mexico, with an estimated investment of approximately $1.6bn.

Chevron subsidiary Chevron U.S.A. is the operator of the project with a stake of 60%, while TotalEnergies E&P USA is its partner owning the remaining stake. Total acquired the stake in the field through an exploration agreement signed with Chevron in September 2017.

The project partners approved the Ballymore oil field development in May 2022. It is the first project for Chevron in the Norphlet trend of the US Gulf of Mexico.

The Ballymore oil field will be developed as a subsea tie-back to the Chevron-operated Blind Faith platform, located approximately 257.4km southeast of New Orleans in the Gulf of Mexico.

The field is expected to produce first oil in 2025 and will have a production capacity of 75,000 barrels of crude oil per day, which is estimated to be sufficient to fill more than 278,000 compact car tanks.

Location and field details

The Ballymore oil field is located in the Mississippi Canyon Block 607, 120km from the Louisiana coast in the US Gulf of Mexico. The water depth in the area is around 2,000m.

Discovered in 2018, the field is located in the Ballymore prospect that covers four blocks in the Norphlet play, a geological formation that stretches to the deep waters of the Eastern Gulf of Mexico from onshore.

The Ballymore discovery well showed 205m of net oil pay in a high-quality Norphlet reservoir, after it was drilled to a total depth of 8,898m.

Reserves

The Ballymore oil field is estimated to contain recoverable oil-equivalent resources of more than 150 million barrels.

Ballymore oil field development details

The Ballymore oil field is planned to be developed as a 4.8km subsea tieback to the Blind Faith floating production platform.

The development will include three production wells tied back to the platform through a flowline. The produced oil and natural gas are expected to be transported by utilising the existing facilities.

Blind Faith platform details

Blind Faith is Chevron’s deepest offshore oil-producing platform in the world and weighs more than 40,000 tonnes. The platform produces oil from four wells located in 2,134m of water in Mississippi Canyon blocks 695 and 696.

Discovered in 2001, the Blind Faith field produced first oil in November 2018. It was estimated to contain a gross resource potential of more than 100 million barrels of oil-equivalent.

The Blind Faith development consists of a deep-draft semisubmersible hull moored in a water depth of 1,981m on the Mississippi Canyon block 650.

The project comprises a drill centre tied back to the floating platform that is located 11.2km away from it with a connection to oil and gas export pipelines. Production from the drill centre is transported to the platform through two flowlines.

The Blind Faith output is transported through Canyon Chief and Mountaineer pipelines, which started operations in 2004.

Chevron owns a 75% stake in the Blind Faith project, with Occidental Petroleum as its partner with a stake of 25%. Occidental Petroleum acquired the stake in the project through the acquisition of Andarko Petroleum in August 2019.

Contractors involved

Worley was awarded a contract by Chevron to provide brownfield modification services for a subsea tieback of the Ballymore oil field. The scope of the engineering and procurement services contract includes providing support to both the subsea and topsides designs as well as delivering procurement services for the topsides.

Intecsea, a subsea systems company that is part of Advisian consulting business of Worley, will be engaged to support the execution of the subsea portion of the contract.