HOUSTON, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- U.S. oil giant Chevron announced Thursday it was moving ahead with a multibillion-dollar deepwater Gulf of Mexico project, just days after the U.S. government lifted a temporary deepwater drilling ban imposed after the BP oil spill.

Chevron, the No.2 U.S. oil company behind Exxon Mobile, said it would invest 7.5 billion U.S. dollars in developing the Jack and St. Malo project in water depths of 7,000 feet, some 280 miles south of New Orleans, Louisiana.

The project, expected to start in 2014, will include three drills linked to a hub production facility with a production capacity of 170,000 barrels of oil and 42.5 million cubic feet of natural gas per day, the company said in a statement.

The company estimates the fields hold a total of 500 million recoverable oil equivalent barrels.

The U.S. government lifted the deepwater drilling ban on Oct. 12, which was scheduled to expire on Nov. 30.

Other major oil companies, including Royal Dutch Shell, also already made clear their intention to resume deepwater drilling in the Gulf as soon as the U.S. government will grant them the permits.(yan)