Chevron has achieved a significant milestone in oil production, announcing on Monday that it has successfully pumped oil from a field operating at unprecedented pressures of 20,000 pounds per square inch—about a third higher than any previously drilled well. This breakthrough could potentially unlock up to 5 billion barrels of oil that were previously inaccessible, according to industry analysts.
The achievement was made possible through Chevron’s $5.7 billion Anchor project, which utilizes specially designed equipment from industry leaders NOV, Dril-Quip, and drillships from Transocean. The first oil was pumped from the initial well on Sunday, with a second well already drilled and nearing readiness, according to Bruce Niemeyer, Chevron’s head of Americas oil exploration and production.
This breakthrough in ultra-high pressure drilling technology marks a critical advancement since the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster at BP’s Macondo prospect in the Gulf of Mexico, which resulted in the tragic loss of 11 lives and significant environmental damage. Transocean, the operator of the ill-fated Deepwater Horizon, and BP, the Macondo project owner, are now involved in this new era of high-pressure well development, utilizing advanced equipment designed to withstand pressures far greater than those encountered in the Macondo incident.
“The industry has done their bit to safely deliver the barrels, with the new technology,” said Mfon Usoro, a principal analyst focusing on Gulf of Mexico operations at Wood Mackenzie.
The technology Chevron is using at Anchor, along with similar projects led by Beacon Offshore Energy and BP, is expected to add a combined 300,000 barrels of new oil production and make 2 billion barrels of previously untapped U.S. oil accessible, Usoro noted. These ultra-high pressure fields are poised to be a significant driver of production growth in the Gulf of Mexico.
Despite recent production levels in the Gulf of Mexico falling below the 2019 peak of 2 million barrels per day, this new technology could help restore the region to its former output levels. BP, which has developed its own high-pressure technology, aims to unlock an additional 10 billion barrels of oil. The company’s Kaskida project, discovered in 2006, had been shelved due to the absence of suitable high-pressure technology, but it now stands to benefit from these advancements.
Similar high-pressure, high-temperature fields that could leverage this 20k technology are located off the coasts of Brazil, Angola, and Nigeria, according to Aditya Ravi, an analyst at Rystad Energy. The Gulf of Mexico is set to serve as the proving ground for this cutting-edge equipment.
Brazil, in particular, has extensive offshore developments that are prime candidates for the future application of 20k technology, given their complex high-pressure, high-temperature environments, Ravi added.
Globally, more than 5 billion barrels of known oil and gas resources could be unlocked with this technology, representing approximately 50 days of current global production, Ravi said. This development not only underscores the potential for significant increases in oil production but also highlights the critical role of technological innovation in accessing previously unreachable energy reserves.
