Jack (WR759) - Chevron

Profile for the Jack (WR 759) - Chevron Oil Project

The Jack field is located in the remote southern portion of the Walker Ridge protraction area in the Central Gulf of Mexico, approximately 280 miles (450 km) south of New Orleans, offshore Louisiana.
The field is situated in Walker Ridge blocks 758 and 759 at a water depth of 7,000 feet (2,134 meters).

The Jack field was discovered in July 2004 by the exploration well Jack-1, drilled by Transocean’s Discoverer Deep Seas drillship to a depth of 29,000 feet. The well struck 350 feet of net oil pay.

The Jack field is jointly developed with the St. Malo field using a Chevron-operated, floating semi-submersible facility. The project was sanctioned in October 2010, and the production facility arrived on location in March 2014. First production was announced in December 2014.
The development involved drilling ten production wells: four at Jack and six at St. Malo. Additionally, 43 subsea wells were drilled and tied back to the Jack/St. Malo semisubmersible floating production unit.
The project has undergone several development phases, with Stage 1 completed in 2014, Stage 2 in 2018, and Stage 3 in May 2020. Stage 3 included the drilling of two additional wells at the Jack field.

The Jack/St. Malo semisubmersible floating production unit (FPU) is the largest of its kind in the Gulf of Mexico. The hull was constructed at the Samsung Heavy Industries yard in Geoje, South Korea, and the topsides facilities were fabricated at the Kiewit yard in Ingleside, Texas. The assembled FPU was then towed to the site and moored in place.
The project features advanced technologies, including the industry’s largest seafloor boosting system to supplement the energy from the reservoir as pressure tapers off. This system involves large pumps on the sea floor to move oil and gas from the subsea to the topsides processing facility.
Chevron also applied deepwater ocean bottom node seismic technology for the first time in the Gulf of Mexico as part of this project.

Chevron is the operator and holds a 51% interest in the Jack/St. Malo project. Other partners include MP Gulf of Mexico (25%), which is owned by Murphy Oil (80%) and Petrobras America (20%), Equinor (21.5%), ExxonMobil (1.25%), and Eni (1.25%).

The initial development phase of the project involved an investment of $7.5 billion.

The project is expected to recover more than 500 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe) over a planned production life of more than 30 years. Production is expected to ramp up to 94,000 barrels of oil per day (b/d) and 21 million cubic feet of gas per day (MMcf/d).
Chevron announced the St. Malo Stage 4 waterflood project in September 2019 to extend the life of the field and recover more than 175 million barrels of oil equivalent. This project includes the drilling of two new production wells, three injector wells, and the installation of topside water injection equipment.

The development faced significant technical challenges due to the extreme water depths and the need to manage reservoir pressure over time. Innovations included the use of an enhanced single trip multi-zone system, which allows for the individual treatment and stimulation of multiple zones in the reservoir.
The project also involved meticulous work on process safety and environmental protection to ensure reliable operation and protection of both people and the environment.

Chevron is currently developing the St. Malo Stage 4 waterflood project, with the first water injection expected in the second half of 2024. This project aims to boost production and extend the field's life.
The success of the Jack/St. Malo project has set a foundation for future deepwater developments in the Gulf of Mexico, particularly in the Lower Tertiary trend.