Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) today announced that it expects first production from its Tahiti project in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico by the third quarter of 2009, approximately 12 months later than the original date that was planned prior to the discovery of defective shackles in the facility's mooring system.

With a recoverable resource ranging from 400 million to 500 million barrels of oil-equivalent, the Tahiti field is believed to be one of the Gulf's largest deepwater discoveries. The field, located approximately 190 miles south of New Orleans and in more than 4,000 feet of water, is intended to be developed from two subsea drill centers producing to a floating production facility supported by a truss spar. The Tahiti facilities are designed to have a daily production capacity of 125,000 barrels of crude oil and 70 million standard cubic feet of natural gas.

The installation of Tahiti's truss spar was delayed in June 2007 when testing revealed a metallurgical problem with the mooring shackles.