Chevron Starts Oil Production in Gulf of Mexico

 Chevron Corporation announced today that the Hess Corporation-operated Tubular Bells deepwater project, located in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, has started crude oil and natural gas production. The field is located 135 miles (217 km) southeast of New Orleans, in approximately 4,300 feet (1,310 m) of water in the Mississippi Canyon area. The discovery well was drilled in 2003, and project construction began in October 2011.

Tubular Bells is expected to deliver total production of approximately 50,000 barrels of oil-equivalent per day producing from three wells.

"The deepwater Gulf of Mexico plays a significant part in our earnings and production growth. Achieving first oil at Tubular Bells is an important step towards Chevron achieving its production goal of 3.1 million barrels per day by 2017," said George Kirkland, vice chairman and executive vice president, Upstream, Chevron Corporation.

"Tubular Bells and the Chevron-operated Jack/St. Malo project further strengthens Chevron's deepwater portfolio," said Jay Johnson, senior vice president, Upstream, Chevron Corporation. Jack/St. Malo, a large lower Tertiary development, is scheduled to be brought online later this year.

"This project's success is the result of our strong business relationship with Hess, reinforcing our commitment to achieve results with excellence, and enabling new opportunities in this strategic area," said Jeff Shellebarger, president, Chevron North America Exploration and Production Company.

The Tubular Bells production facility is producing from the Miocene trend, where, for many years, Chevron subsidiaries have had multiple producing assets and a leading leaseholder position. The floating production facility is a classic spar hull with traditional three-level topsides. The field has an estimated production life of 25 years.

Chevron subsidiary Chevron U.S.A. Inc. has a 42.86 percent working interest in the Tubular Bells development and Hess is the operator with a 57.14 percent working interest in the field.