BP approved a major expansion at the Atlantis field in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and also identified significant additional oil resources that could create further development opportunities around the production hubs it operates in the Gulf region, the company announced Tuesday.
The $1.3 billion Atlantis Phase 3 development is the latest example of BP's strategy of growing advantaged oil production through its existing production facilities in the Gulf, a statement from the company read.
'The approval for this latest development comes after recent BP breakthroughs in advanced seismic imaging and reservoir characterization revealed an additional 400 million barrels of oil in place at the Atlantis field,' it said.
According to the press release, application of the same technology and analysis has now identified an additional 1 billion barrels of oil in place at the Thunder Horse field.
Elsewhere, two new discoveries at the Manuel and Nearly Headless Nick prospects near the Na Kika production facility could provide further tie-back development opportunities, it added.
'BP’s Gulf of Mexico business is key to our strategy of growing production of advantaged high-margin oil. We are building on our world-class position, upgrading the resources at our fields through technology, productivity and exploration success,' said Bernard Looney, BP's Upstream chief executive.
'And these fields are still young – only 12 percent of the hydrocarbons in place across our Gulf portfolio have been produced so far. We can see many opportunities for further development, offering the potential to continue to create significant value through the middle of the next decade and beyond,' he added.
According to the statement, BP's net production in the Gulf of Mexico has increased by more than 60 percent over the last five years, rising from less than 200,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) in 2013 to more than 300,000 boe/d today.
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.
By Hale Turkes
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr