Chevron and Total are set to go ahead with stage 1 development of the Anchor Oil Field Gulf of Mexico, offshore Louisiana, having taken a final investment decision (FID).

The two oil and gas giants will invest nearly $5.7 billion for the phase 1 development of the US offshore oil field.

Located approximately 225kms from Louisiana coast, the Anchor Oil Field in the Green Canyon region, holds 440 million plus barrels of estimated recoverable oil-equivalent resources.

The US offshore oil field is contained in water depths of around 1,524m and is likely to be developed in multiple phases. Chevron and Total expect to draw the Anchor Oil Field first oil in 2024.

Jay Johnson – executive vice president of Chevron Upstream, commenting on the Anchor Oil Field Gulf of Mexico FID, said: “This decision reinforces Chevron’s commitment to the deepwater asset class.

“We expect to continue creating value for shareholders by delivering stand-alone development projects and sub-sea tie backs at a competitive cost.”

The first stage of the Anchor Oil Field development will see drilling of seven subsea wells, which will be connected to a semi-submersible floating production unit (FPU). The Anchor Oil Project FPU will have a design capacity of 75,000 barrels of crude oil to go along with 28 million cubic feet of natural gas per day.

The Anchor Oil Field Gulf of Mexico will mark the first development in the oil and gas industry to employ the high-pressure technology. The new technology can handle pressures of 20,000 psi, thereby offering access to other high-pressure resource opportunities in the Gulf of Mexico, said Chevron.

Commenting on Anchor Oil Field Gulf of Mexico, Steve Green – president of Chevron North America Exploration and Production, said: “For new projects in the Gulf of Mexico, we have reduced development costs by nearly a third, compared to our last generation of greenfield deepwater investments.

“We’re doing this by standardizing equipment, utilizing fit-for-purpose surface facilities that require less capital and employing drill to fill strategies. At Anchor, we streamlined our front-end engineering and design phase and are utilizing more industry standards in our designs and equipment to lower costs while maintaining Operational Excellence.”

Chevron, through its subsidiary Chevron U.S.A., holds an operating stake of 62.86% in Anchor Oil Field Gulf of Mexico, with the remaining stake of 37.14% held by Total’s subsidiary Total E&P USA.

  Anchor Oil Field, Anchor Oil Project, Chevron, Chevron U.S.A., Gulf of Mexico, Jay Johnson, Louisiana, Steve Green, Total, USA