Chevron, TotalEnergies Start Up Ballymore offshore Louisiana

Chevron Corp. and TotalEnergies SE have unlocked new production of up to 75,000 barrels a day of oil and 50 million cubic feet a day of gas with the startup of the deepwater Ballymore field.

Located about 120 kilometers (74.56 miles) off the coast of Louisiana in around 6,600 feet of water, Ballymore holds estimated recoverable resources of 150 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe) according to the partners.

“Ballymore, the latest in a series of Chevron projects to start up in the past year, represents another step towards the company’s goal to produce 300,000 net barrels per day of oil equivalent from the Gulf in 2026”, operator and 60 percent owner Chevron said in an online statement.

Ballymore, a tieback, is Chevron’s first development in the Norphlet trend of the United States Gulf. Ballymore is in the Mississippi Canyon area.

“The start-up of Ballymore will increase TotalEnergies’ production capacity in U.S. deepwater to more than 75,000 boe/d and contribute to the Company’s targeted hydrocarbon production growth of over 3 percent in 2025”, Nicolas Terraz, president for exploration and production at TotalEnergies, said separately. The French energy giant owns 40 percent of Ballymore.

“The United States is a major market for the deployment of our integrated energy model, which combines low breakeven and low emissions oil and gas projects with LNG and integrated power developments”.

Ballymore was discovered 2018. The partners approved the development May 2022.

In another Gulf partnership, Chevron and TotalEnergies put online the Anchor field in the third quarter of 2024.

Chevron said the development is the first to successfully deploy a high-pressure deepwater technology. The technology, which consists of components for drilling, completion, intervention and subsea production, can safely operate at up to 20,000 pressure per square inch in reservoirs that are 34,000 feet below sea level according to Chevron.

The project employs a semisubmersible floating production unit (FPU) with a daily capacity of 75,000 barrels of oil and 28 million cubic feet of gas, which will supply Gulf Coast markets in the U.S. Anchor will have seven subsea wells tied to the FPU, stationed in the Green Canyon area about 140 miles off Louisiana’s coast in waters about 5,000 feet.

Discovered 2014, the field holds potentially recoverable resources of around 440 MMboe.

Chevron operates Anchor with a 62.86 percent stake. TotalEnergies owns the remaining 37.14 percent.

Elsewhere in the Gulf, Chevron put onstream the deepwater Whale field earlier in 2025, expecting a peak production of 100,000 boed. British energy major Shell PLC operates the development with a 60 percent. Chevron owns 40 percent.

Located in Alaminos Canyon Block 773, Whale is designed to have a semi-submersible production host in over 8,600 feet of water. Up to 15 wells will be tied back to the host via subsea infrastructure according to the owners.

Discovered 2017, Whale holds estimated proven and probable reserves of 480 million boe, according to the owners. Its production facility is adjacent to the Silvertip field, also owned by Shell and Chevron, and lies about 10 miles from Shell and Chevron’s Perdido spar platform.

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