Beacon starts oil and gas production at offshore Shenandoah Field in the GoM

Beacon Offshore Energy has started oil and natural gas production from the Shenandoah Field in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM).  

Production from the first of four producing wells began July 25, and Beacon expects to ramp up the Phase 1 wells during the third quarter with a target aggregate deliverability of 100,000 bbl/d of oil.  

Phase 2 of the Shenandoah development includes two additional wells and a subsea booster pump with the fifth Shenandoah producer scheduled to be drilled and completed by mid-2026.

The Shenandoah reserves, located at reservoir depths of about 30,000 ft true vertical depth, are being developed using high-pressure 20,000-psi technology, which Beacon says it expects to facilitate development of other similarly situated fields in the Inboard Wilcox trend. 

The Shenandoah floating production system (FPS) is located on Walker Ridge 52 about 150 miles off the coast of Louisiana in a water depth of about 5,800 ft. The FPS has been placed into service with a nameplate capacity of 120,000 bbl/d of oil and 140 MMcf/d.

Moreover, the FPS has been designed as a regional host facility that will enable development of additional resources including the Beacon-operated Monument and Shenandoah South discoveries, which together with Shenandoah are expected to hold recoverable resources of nearly 600 MMboe.   

Additionally, Beacon has sanctioned the development of the Shenandoah South discovery located in Walker Ridge 95 in water depths ranging from 5,800 to 6,000 ft. The field’s proximity to the Shenandoah FPS will enable a cost-efficient subsea tieback development to be accomplished via a 3-mile flowline and dedicated riser connection to the Shenandoah FPS.

Beacon says Shenandoah South is expected to include the drilling and completion of two wells with initial production from the first well expected to occur in second-quarter 2028. Beacon estimates a total of 74 MMboe of 2P resources for Shenandoah South.  

The company is partnering with Houston Energy, HEQ Deepwater and Navitas Petroleum in the Shenandoah South development.