Chevron Strikes Oil in Gulf of Mexico

Oil giant Chevron struck gold -- black gold -- in the Gulf of Mexico, the company announced today.

At the company's deepwater Walker Ridge Block 98 property, located 190 miles off the Louisiana coast in 6,127 feet of water, Well No. 1 struck oil at a depth of 31,866 feet. Chevron says it encountered "more than 400 feet of net pay." (Net pay refers to how much rock was drilled through that contains hydrocarbons that can be profitably extracted.)

Chevron is still evaluating the wellhead in question, located in an area described as the "Coronado prospect," and the company says it needs to do more work to determine just how valuable of a find this is. In any case, it will be valuable to more companies than just Chevron. While the company owns a 40% interest in the prospect and is the project operator there, Chevron shares ownership of the property with ConocoPhillips , Anadarko Petroleum , and Venari Offshore -- which own shares of 35%, 15%, and 10%, respectively.

Deepwater gusher or no, investors deep-sixed Chevron stock in Monday trading, sending it down 0.8% to close at $120.18 per share.

The article Chevron Strikes Oil in Gulf of Mexico originally appeared on Fool.com.

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