BP plans for significant growth in deepwater Gulf of Mexico

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11 January 2019

BP announced that it has approved a major expansion at the Atlantis field in the US Gulf of Mexico and has also identified significant additional oil resources that could create further development opportunities around the production hubs it operates in the region.

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. 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.

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 near the Na Kika production facility could provide further tie-back development opportunities.

"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% 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."

Atlantis Phase 3 will include the construction of a new subsea production system from eight new wells that will be tied into the current platform, 150 miles south of New Orleans. Scheduled to come onstream in 2020, the project is expected to boost production at the platform by an estimated 38,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day (boe/d) gross at its peak. It will also access the eastern area of the field where the advanced imaging and reservoir characterization identified additional oil in place.