Chevron kicks off deepwater production at Ballymore

Chevron announced on April 21 that it had begun production from the Ballymore subsea tieback in the deepwater US Gulf of Mexico.

Ballymore consists of three wells tied back to the Blind Faith platform, which is also operated by Chevron and located 3 miles (4.8 km) away. The wells are expected to produce up to 75,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil on a gross basis. Ballymore is located in the Mississippi Canyon area in around 6,600 feet (2,000 metres) of water, about 160 miles (260 km) southeast of New Orleans. The development is Chevron’s first in the Gulf’s Norphlet trend and its potentially recoverable resources are estimated at around 150mn barrels of oil equivalent (boe) on a gross basis over the life of the project.

Chevron operates Ballymore with a 60% working interest, while TotalEnergies owns the remaining 40% stake. The supermajor sanctioned the project in 2022.

In a separate announcement, TotalEnergies said that at its plateau, Ballymore would represent close to 30,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) net of cash-accretive production for the French company.

Chevron’s vice president for the Gulf, Brent Gros, described Ballymore as an example of how the company is “leveraging technology and driving efficiencies to help produce affordable, reliable energy” from the deepwater Gulf. He added that the region was one of the lowest carbon intensity oil and gas producing basins globally.

“Ballymore, which was completed on time and on budget, brings additional production online without building a new standalone offshore platform,” Gros continued. “This reduces our development costs and is expected to drive higher returns for shareholders.”

Ballymore is the latest in a series of Chevron projects to start up in the past year, the supermajor noted, saying the project represented another step towards its goal to produce 300,000 boepd on a net basis from the Gulf in 2026. The company went on to say that since mid-2024, it had started production from its Anchor development and non-operated Whale project and had also begun water injection at its Tahiti and Jack/St. Malo facilities.