Chevron and its partners will invest an estimated $6bn in the development of the Stampede project in the deepwater US Gulf of Mexico.
Chevron’s subsidiary, Union Oil Company of California, will run the deepwater subsea development, which will be tied back to a newly built Tension Leg platform.
Production from the project is expected to be about 80,000 barrels of crude oil per day; the drilling programme includes six production and four water injection wells.
Drilling is expected to start in the fourth quarter of 2015 with first production planned in 2018.
Chevron senior vice-president for upstream Jay Johnson said: "Moving forward on Stampede is another important milestone for Chevron in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, where we have a solid queue of major capital projects coming onstream, including Tubular Bells and Jack / St Malo."
The Stampede field has estimated recoverable resources of more than 300 million barrels of oil equivalent.
Union Oil Company of California has a 25% working interest in the development, while other companies Hess, Statoil and Nexen, also have 25% stakes.
Hess will operate the Stampede project, which includes the joint development of the Knotty Head and the Pony discoveries, in Green Canyon blocks 511, 512, and 468.
The blocks are situated 220 miles south-east of New Orleans in 3,500ft of water, and target lower Miocene reservoirs at a depth of about 30,000ft.
The Knotty Head field was discovered in 2005 and the Pony field was discovered in 2006.
.gif)
