Chevron sanctions waterflood oil recovery project in St Malo oil field

Chevron and its partners have agreed to move ahead with a waterflood oil recovery project in the St Malo oil field in the US Gulf of Mexico.

The St Malo oil field, which is located about 280 miles south of New Orleans in Louisiana, has an estimated production life of another 30 years. The waterflood project, which will be Chevron’s first of its kind in the deepwater Wilcox trend, is expected to contribute an estimated ultimate recovery of more than 175 barrels of oil equivalent (boe).

Steve Green – President of Chevron North America Exploration and Production, commenting on the waterflood oil recovery project at the St Malo oil field, said: “The St. Malo field is a world-class asset that is positioned for highly economic brownfield development.

“With our leading technology, experienced workforce and broad portfolio, we’re delivering value in the Gulf of Mexico.”

Chevron and its partners to go ahead with waterflood oil recovery project in the St Malo oil field. Photo courtesy of Business Wire.

The waterflood oil recovery project comprises two new production wells, three new injector wells, as well as topsides injection equipment for the Jack/St. Malo floating production unit, enabling Chevron and partners to extend the life of St Malo oil field.

Chevron, through its subsidiaries, has a 51% working interest in the US offshore oil field with MP Gulf of Mexico (jointly owned by Murphy Oil and Petrobras America) and Equinor Gulf of Mexico being the other two main stakeholders with stakes of 25% and 21.5%, respectively. ExxonMobil and Eni Petroleum US are also part of the St Malo oil field with stakes of 1.25% each.

Commenting on the waterflood oil recovery project at the St Malo oil field, Chris Golden – Senior Vice President for Equinor North America offshore portfolio, said: “We are pleased to announce this decision, which will further boost our production of high-value barrels from the Gulf of Mexico.”

Discovered in 2003, St Malo is part of the Jack St Malo project in the Lower Tertiary trend of deepwater Gulf of Mexico. The two fields are 40km away from each other and are contained in about 2,100m of water in the Walker Ridge area.

Chevron and its partners approved the Jack St Malo project in late 2010 with an initial investment of about $7.5 billion and executed it in a phased manner. In the initial phase of development, ten production wells were drilled of which six were at the St Malo oil field.

The Jack St Malo project also saw the drilling of 43 subsea wells, which were connected to a semi-submersible floating production facility that has a production capacity of 170,000 barrels of oil per day to go along with 42 million cubic feet of natural gas per day.