U.S. energy company Chevron said its latest major oil discovery in the Gulf of Mexico anchors its position as a global leader in deep water activity.

The company said it made what it described as a "significant" oil discovery at the Anchor prospect in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, its second such discovery in less than a year.

"We had one of our best years with the drill bit in 2014, reporting more than 30 discoveries worldwide and adding an estimated 1 billion barrels of new resources to our holdings," Jay Johnson, a vice president in charge of exploration and production operations, said in a statement.

The company in early December announced crude oil production started at the Jack/St. Malo project in the deep waters of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, one of the region's largest. Chevron said the first development stage should yield as much as 94,000 barrels of oil per day.

With current technologies, the company said it expects to recover more than 500 million barrels of oil equivalent over the 30-year lifespan of the Jack/St. Malo project.

Chevron said it has five drilling rigs operating in the U.S. waters of the Gulf of Mexico, two of which are designated for exploration work.

The company said it's in the process of appraising the reserve capacity of the Anchor discovery.