U.S. oil major Chevron has sanctioned the Ballymore oil field development in the deepwater U.S. Gulf of Mexico.
The project, with a design capacity of 75,000 barrels of crude oil per day, will be developed as a three-mile subsea tieback to the existing Chevron-operated Blind Faith platform.
Steve Green, president of Chevron North America Exploration and Production said: "Once complete, Ballymore is expected to add a reliable supply of U.S.-produced energy to help meet global demand. The project is designed to lower development costs by using a subsea tieback approach, standardized equipment and repeatable engineering solutions – leveraging existing operated infrastructure.”
Ballymore will be Chevron’s first development in the Norphlet trend of the U.S. gulf. The project will be in the Mississippi Canyon area in around 6,600 feet (2,000 m) of water, about 160 miles (260 km) southeast of New Orleans. Potentially recoverable oil-equivalent resources for Ballymore are estimated at more than 150 million barrels.
The project, which involves three production wells tied back via one flowline to the nearby Blind Faith platform, will require an investment of approximately $1.6 billion. Oil and natural gas production will be transported via existing infrastructure. First oil is expected in 2025.
Chevron is the operator of the Ballymore project with a 60 percent working interest. Chevron's partner in the project is the French oil major TotalEnergies, which holds the remaining 40 percent stake.
“Sanctioning the Ballymore field development, only four years after the discovery, is the result of our exploration efforts in the Gulf of Mexico, said David Mendelson, Senior Vice President Americas of TotalEnergies Exploration & Production. Thanks to its tie-back development concept, this decision fits TotalEnergies’ strategy of focusing on oil projects with low breakeven and low emissions.”