Chevron said that it has carried out a successful production test at the St. Malo PS003 well in the Lower Tertiary trend, in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico.
During the production test, oil flow rates at the well exceeded 13,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd), though the flow was hindered by testing equipment constraints.
The company conducted the test during August and September 2012 in Walker Ridge Block 678, to target Lower Tertiary sands over 6,096m under the sea floor.
Walker Ridge Block 678 is the first development well in the St. Malo field, which is being jointly developed with the Jack field. Both fields are located within 40km of each other.
Chevron North America Exploration and Production Company president Gary Luquette said the results of the production test proves the importance of St. Malo field.
"The jointly developed Jack and St. Malo fields are expected to provide a major step-up in Chevron’s production from 2014 and produce domestic energy for decades to come," Luquette added.
Chevron is developing the fields by deploying a host floating production unit, which is located between the two fields in 2,134m of water, about 450km south of New Orleans, Louisiana.
The facility will have a capacity of 177,000 barrels of oil-equivalent per day (boepd) to hold production from the Jack/St. Malo development, as well as additional output from third-party tiebacks.
Jack/St. Malo development is expected to produce at a maximum total daily rate of 94,000boepd .