Hess, Chevron commence production from Tubular Bells Field in Gulf of Mexico
Hess Corp announced that production has commenced from the Tubular Bells Field, located in the Mississippi Canyon area of the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. Hess holds a 57.14% interest in the Tubular Bells Field and is the operator. Chevron USA has a 42.86% interest.
“This important achievement demonstrates our ability to successfully execute highly complex, deepwater development projects,” Hess CEO John Hess said. “We are proud to deliver Tubular Bells safely and on budget. One year after Hess took over as operator, the project was sanctioned and fast-tracked with an execution schedule to first oil in just three years.”
Following a ramp-up period, Tubular Bells is expected to deliver gross production of approximately 50,000 bbl of oil equivalent (BOE) per day (25,000 BOE per day net to Hess) from three producing wells by year-end.
“The deepwater Gulf of Mexico plays a significant part in our earnings and production growth,” George Kirkland, Vice Chairman and Executive Vice President, Upstream, Chevron Corp, said. “Achieving first oil at Tubular Bells is an important step towards Chevron achieving its production goal of 3.1 million bbl per day by 2017.”
The Tubular Bells production facility was discovered in 2003, designed and constructed entirely in the US creating an estimated 7,000 direct and indirect jobs in Texas and Louisiana. The development was sanctioned in October 2011. It lies in approximately 4,300 ft of water, 135 miles southeast of New Orleans. It is producing from the Miocene trend. The floating production facility is a classic spar hull with traditional three-level topsides. The field has an estimated production life of 25 years.
