BP announced that it has discovered two new oilfields in the Gulf of Mexico and has found one billion barrels of oil at an existing field with the help of a new seismic technology. The company, years after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Spill, announced its plans on expanding its production at its Atlantis oilfield in the Gulf of Mexico.
The British Company by announcing its plans, ensures its status as the largest oil producer in the region. BP has mainly focused on technology and data processing capabilities aiming to find new resources and lower costs.
Also, the $1.3 billion Atlantis Phase 3 project will embody the drilling of eight wells and a new subsea production system which will boost the company’s production by 38,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. The project is to start production in 2020.
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Furthermore, the project will also access the eastern area of the field where the advanced imaging and reservoir characterization identified additional oil in place.
BP said that new seismic technology helped it identify an additional 1 billion barrels of oil at its Thunder Horse field within weeks, whereas previously it would have taken a year to analyse.
The company through its statement announced two oil discoveries in the Gulf of Mexico, at the Manuel and Nearly Headless Nick prospects.
BP is currently the top oil producer in the Gulf and anticipates its production growing to around 400,000 boe/d through the middle of the next decade.
Bernard Looney, BP’s Upstream chief executive addressed that the Gulf of Mexico business is key to their strategy of growing production of advantaged high-margin oil.
Mr Looney stated that
And these fields are still young – only 12% of the hydrocarbons in place across our Gulf portfolio have been produced so far.
BP said it is also considering the development of Atlantis phases 4 and 5 as well as expanding the Thunder Horse, Na Kika and Mad Dog fields.