Chevron publicizes first oil at Ballymore undertaking in US Gulf

By Sheila Dang

HOUSTON (Reuters) -Chevron (CVX) has began oil and fuel manufacturing from a undertaking within the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, the oil main mentioned on Monday, bringing the corporate a step nearer towards its aim of rising manufacturing from the ocean basin by 50% this yr.

The $1.6 billion undertaking referred to as Ballymore, situated about 160 miles southeast of New Orleans, consists of three wells that’s anticipated to provide as much as 75,000 barrels of oil equal per day (boepd).

Chevron goals to develop oil and fuel manufacturing from the Gulf to 300,000 boepd in 2026, and on the identical time, it’s working to chop as much as $3 billion in prices throughout the enterprise. As an alternative of constructing a brand new manufacturing platform for Ballymore, the wells will transport oil and fuel again to an current platform, which the corporate mentioned will permit it to extend manufacturing at much less expense.

“Ballymore is attention-grabbing in that it is a tie-back to an current facility, which has allowed us to deliver manufacturing to market extra rapidly,” mentioned Bruce Niemeyer, president of Americas exploration and manufacturing, in an interview.

The undertaking can be Chevron’s first in a geological formation of the Gulf referred to as Norphlet, the place the oil and fuel business has traditionally had fewer discoveries than in different elements of the ocean basin, he added.

Developments in know-how are key to increasing useful resource exploration, reminiscent of the usage of ocean backside nodes, which permit geophysicists to gather higher information beneath the ocean flooring, Niemeyer mentioned.

Chevron is the operator of Ballymore with a 60% curiosity, whereas co-owner TotalEnergies has 40%. Ballymore holds an estimated 150 million barrels of oil equal in doubtlessly recoverable sources.

The corporate owns 370 leases within the Gulf of Mexico and expects to take part in a lease sale this yr by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, Niemeyer mentioned.

The Ballymore start-up comes after Chevron introduced first oil in August at Anchor, a Gulf of Mexico undertaking that may be a technological breakthrough with the flexibility to function in deepwater pressures of as much as 20,000 kilos per sq. inch.

(Reporting by Sheila Dang in Houston; Modifying by Chizu Nomiyama )