Chevron Corp. announced May 17 that it has sanctioned the Ballymore project 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.

“Chevron’s U.S. Gulf of Mexico production is some of the lowest carbon intensity production in our portfolio at around 6 kg CO2 equivalent per barrel of oil equivalent and is a fraction of the global industry average,” Steve Green, president of Chevron North America Exploration and Production, said in a press release.

Upon completion, Ballymore is expected to "add a reliable supply of U.S.-produced energy to help meet global demand," Green added. He also noted that the project is designed to lower development costs by using a "subsea tieback approach, standardized equipment and repeatable engineering solutions."

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 of water, about 160 miles 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 facility, 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 subsidiary Chevron U.S.A. Inc. is the operator of the Ballymore project with a 60% working interest. Co-owner TotalEnergies E&P USA, Inc. has a 40% interest.

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