Jack, St. Malo partners announce first oil from deepwater Gulf of Mexico project
Jack, St. Malo partners announce first oil from deepwater Gulf of Mexico project
SAN RAMON, California -- The partners for the deepwater Jack and St. Malo project in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, led by operator Chevron, have announced that crude oil and natural gas production has started.
The Jack and St. Malo fields are located within 25 mi of each other in approximately 7,000 ft of water in the Walker Ridge area, approximately 280 mi south of New Orleans, Louisiana.
The fields were co-developed with subsea completions flowing back to a single host, semi-submersible floating production unit located between the fields, with a production capacity of 170,000 bpd and 42.5 MMcfd.
Crude oil will be transported 137 mi to the Green Canyon 19 Platform via the Jack/St. Malo Oil Export Pipeline, and then onto refineries along the Gulf Coast. The pipeline is the first large-diameter, ultra-deepwater pipeline in the Walker Ridge area.
The Jack and St. Malo fields, among the largest in the Gulf of Mexico, were discovered in 2004 and 2003, respectively. With a planned production life of more than 30 years, current technologies are anticipated to recover in excess of 500 MMboe.
Production from the first development stage is expected to ramp up over the next several years to a total daily rate of 94,000 bpd of oil, and 21 MMcfd of gas.
Successive development phases, which could employ EOR technologies, may enable substantially increased recovery at the fields.
“The Jack/St. Malo project delivers valuable new production and supports our plan to reach 3.1 MMbpd by 2017,” said George Kirkland, vice chairman and executive vice president of Chevron's upstream division.
The project, which was sanctioned in 2010, has delivered new technology applications, including the industry’s largest seafloor boosting system and Chevron’s first application of deepwater ocean bottom node seismic technology in the Gulf of Mexico, providing images of subsurface layers nearly 30,000 ft below the ocean floor.
"This large, complex project was delivered on-time and on-budget, which is world-class execution," said Jason Nye, senior vice president of Statoil's U.S. offshore group.
Chevron U.S.A. has a working interest of 50% in the Jack field, with co-owners Statoil (25%) and Maersk Oil (25%).
Chevron also holds a 51% working interest in the St. Malo field, with co-owners Petrobras (25%), Statoil (21.5%), ExxonMobil (1.25%) and Eni (1.25%).
Chevron has a 40.6% ownership interest in the host facility, with co-owners Statoil (27.9%), Petrobras (15%), Maersk Oil (5%), ExxonMobil (10.75%) and Eni (0.75%).
