Deepwater Gulf of Mexico Development Challenges Overview

Abstract

Abstract Chevron's role as a major player in the global energy arena is due in large part to the Company's extensive oil and gas exploration and production operations. A large proportion of the Company's extensive reserves are located in deepwater locations throughout the world. The Company is one of the largest producers of crude oil and natural gas on the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) shelf and among the top acreage holders in the Gulf's deepwater1 and ultra deepwater2. Following on from the successes of an aggressive deepwater exploration campaign in the Gulf of Mexico, a series of major discoveries were rapidly appraised and moved to development (Fig. 1). This paper will give a high level review of some of the recent development challenges for the deepwater and ultra deepwater fields in the GoM and will explain how these challenges were addressed and how the Company plans to address even more demanding challenges in the future.