First oil & gas well in US Gulf now online, second set to follow suit shortly

January 23, 2026, by Melisa Cavcic

Beacon Offshore Energy, a Texas-based exploration and production company, has brought its initial well on stream at a field in the Gulf of America (the U.S. Gulf of Mexico) and drilled another one, which is anticipated to begin production by the end of the first quarter of 2026.

Olympus platform; Copyright: Shell /Mike Duhon Productions; Credit: Photographic Services, Shell International

While confirming the start of oil and natural gas production from the Zephyrus field, Beacon Offshore Energy explained that the well came online in late December 2025. The initial discovery well (Zephyrus #1) was drilled by the U.S. player in 2023, encountering high-quality oil in the Middle Miocene Cris “I” aged M2 sand (M2).

The operator and its partners worked with Shell Offshore, a subsidiary of the UK-headquartered Shell, to connect the Zephyrus field to the existing West Boreas subsea infrastructure for further processing on the oil major’s operated Olympus production platform in the Mars Corridor.

“This efficient infrastructure-led development resulted in reduced emissions, lower development costs, and shortened time to first oil and was further made possible by incorporating a high integrity pressure protection system into the nine-mile Zephyrus subsea infrastructure,” according to Beacon.

The Miocene-aged Zephyrus development is located in the Mississippi Canyon Block 759, approximately 130 miles southeast of New Orleans, LA, in water depths ranging from 3,100 to 3,600 feet. The company drilled a second well at the field (Zephyrus #2), reaching a total measured depth of 26,270 feet.

The Zephyrus #2 well encountered 116 net feet of pay, including in the M2 sand currently producing in the Zephyrus #1 well and two additional high-quality Miocene sands in the M0 and UM1.

Beacon, which is joined by Houston Energy, HEQ II, Red Willow Offshore, Westlawn Americas Offshore, and Murphy Exploration & Production in the Zephyrus development, is currently conducting completion operations and expects to kick off production from the Zephyrus #2 well by the end of Q1 2026.

The Texas-based firm has been working on increasing its hydrocarbon output by bringing new developments online, as illustrated by the start-up of the Shenandoah project last year.