ExxonMobil starts output from US GoM field Julia

OREANDA-NEWS. April 20, 2016. ExxonMobil started output from its Julia oil field in the US Gulf of Mexico as part of its plan to start 10 new upstream projects by the end of 2017.

The Julia development, started ahead of schedule and under budget, is located about 265 miles (426 km) southwest of New Orleans in water depths of more than 7,000 ft. The initial development phase uses subsea tie-backs to the Chevron-operated Jack/St Malo facility, reducing the need for additional infrastructure and enhancing capital efficiency, it said.

The first production well is online and a second one will start in coming weeks. ExxonMobil didn't give an output figure from the first well. A drill ship, Maersk Viking, is drilling a third well, which is expected to come online in early 2017. Results will help in evaluating the additional wells that will be included in the initial development phase, which has a design capacity of 34,000 b/d.

Discovered in 2007, the project's development began in 2013 and was estimated to cost \\$4bn. The Julia field comprises five leases in the ultra-deepwater Walker Ridge area of the Gulf.

ExxonMobil is the operator with a 50pc stake with Statoil holding the remaining.

The 10 new upstream projects slated to start in 2016 and 2017 are expected to add 450,000 b/d of oil equivalent (boe/d) of working-interest output. The major's output in 2015 rose by 3.2pc from a year earlier to 4.1mn boe/d.