LLOG Announces First Oil from Salamanca FPU in GOM

Written by Paul Wiseman for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--LLOG Exploration Offshore (Covington, Louisiana) announced earlier this week it had achieved first oil production from its Salamanca Floating Production Unit (FPU). Salamanca is in the Gulf of Mexico's Keathley Canyon Block 689, in roughly 6,400 feet of water.

Production came from a well that already had been drilled and completed in the Leon Field. LLOG expects to see more production from two additional wells in the fourth quarter: One in the Leon Field, and another in the Castile Field, which is in Keathley Canyon Block 736.

LLOG expects production from a third well in Leon in the first quarter of 2026, and later in the year from a second well in Castile.

Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) can learn more about the Salamanca development in a detailed project report. Altogether, Industrial Info is nearly $1 billion worth of projects in the Leon and Castile fields; subscribers can click here for a list of related reports.

For natural gas production, the FPU will connect to the Keathley Canyon Connector (KCC) gas pipeline, said Maria Sanchez, Natural Gas Products and Senior Energy Analyst with Industrial Info.

"The Salamanca FPU's startup is already reflected in higher natural gas volumes moving through the KCC pipeline," Sanchez said. "Deliveries to the Junction Platform have climbed steadily since August, with September flows averaging more than three times higher than levels earlier in 2025."

The semi-submersible platform replaces one that had been removed in 2019. The development will include subsea infrastructure at depths of about 6,000 feet, along with about 20 miles of subsea pipelines and umbilicals to connect with the platform. About 30 miles of export pipelines will connect takeaway capacity to a separate system.

LLOG is the operator of the Salamanca FPU, as well as the Leon and Castile discoveries, with Repsol (Madrid, Spain) and O.G. Oil & Gas (Singapore) as non-operating working interest owners.

Repsol holds a 50% working interest in Leon and 35.62% in Castile, and a 2.5% interest in Salamanca. The FPU's initial production capacity is 60,000 barrels of oil per day (BBL/d) and 40 million cubic feet of gas per day. The company drilled the discovery well in Leon in 2014.

A Repsol press release says Salamanca represents a milestone in offshore production: "This historic facility is the first to be refurbished in the U.S. Gulf, delivering an estimated 87% reduction in emissions compared to the construction of a new unit." It adds that refurbishing an existing FPO significantly reduced the wells' time to first production.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) platform helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking more than 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).