Sept 3 (Reuters) - Chevron ( CVX ) said on Tuesday it

had started water

injection operations at the company's projects, Jack/St. Malo

and Tahiti off the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, to boost oil and natural

gas recovery.

Since the fields started production in 2014, Jack/St. Malo

have cumulatively produced almost 400 million gross barrels of

oil equivalent (boe), the company said in a release.

"Delivery of these two projects maximizes returns from our

existing resource base and contributes toward growing our

production to 300,000 net barrels of oil equivalent per day

(boepd) in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico by 2026," said Bruce

Niemeyer, president of Chevron Americas' Exploration &

Production.

The water injections would add nearly 175 million boe to

St. Malo field's gross ultimate recovery, the company said,

while studying ways to further increase recovery from the Tahiti

and Jack/St. Malo facilities.

Chevron ( CVX ) is the operator of the St. Malo field and holds

a 51% working interest, while also being the operator of the

Tahiti facility with a 58% working interest.