OREANDA-NEWS. Petrobras announces that it started production today (Dec. 2) at the St. Malo field, located about 450 km south of New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Water depth is about 2,100 meters in the Walker Ridge area, in the Gulf of Mexico, and reservoir depth is 8,077 meters.

Discovered in 2003, St. Malo comprises a completion system connected to a semisubmersible production unit. The Jack/St. Malo platform is shared by the St. Malo and Jack fields and can produce 170,000 barrels of oil and 1.2 million cubic meters of gas per day, with possibility for future expansion. It is the largest semi-submersible platform in displacement installed in the American portion of the Gulf of Mexico and was designed to operate for at least 30 years.

Petrobras is a leader in deepwater operations because of its experience and technology it has developed in its offshore operations in Brazil. St. Malo is the third field in ultradeep waters at which Petrobras operates in the Gulf of Mexico, and is located in the Lower Tertiary geological strata (formed between 23 and 65 million years ago).

Also in the Lower Tertiary, Petrobras operates the Cascade and Chinook fields, in production since 2012, with vessel platform BW Pioneer, the first FPSO (floating oil production, storage and offloading unit) approved for operation in the American portion of the Gulf of Mexico. In addition, Petrobras holds stakes in the Tiber, Lucius, Hadrian South, and Hadrian North fields, all with significant oil and gas reserves.