BP approves $1.3 billion Gulf expansion

[Elderberry]

Houma Today 1/8/2019 By Keith Magill

BP has approved a $1.3 billion expansion at one of its oil projects in the Gulf of Mexico and discovered an additional 1.4 billion barrels at two of them, company officials said today.

“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,” Bernard Looney, BP’s Upstream chief executive, said in a news release. “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.”

The $1.3 billion Atlantis Phase 3 development is the latest example of the British oil company’s strategy of growing oil production through its existing facilities in the Gulf, he said.

BP is the operator of Atlantis and holds a 56 percent working interest, with BHP holding the remaining 44 percent. BHP is expected to make a final decision early this year on whether to proceed with the expansion.

The announcement comes amid a four-and-a-half-year offshore oil bust that has cost the Houma-Thibodaux area about 16,000 jobs. Over the past few months, several reports from economists and consultants have predicted an uptick in the Gulf this year, forecasts that hinge on how high oil prices rise above current levels of about $50 a barrel.

More: https://www.houmatoday.com/news/20190108/bp-approves-13-billion-gulf-expansion

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Still plenty of oil to be produced offshore. One doesn't hear much about it with the noise happening from onshore unconventionals.

BP bought Amoco for its US offshore portfolio and expertise.

[Smokin Joe]

Still plenty of oil to be produced offshore. One doesn't hear much about it with the noise happening from onshore unconventionals.

BP bought Amoco for its US offshore portfolio and expertise.

As bad as the incident was, in terms of loss of life and government interference, the fallout from the Macundo blowout actually helped propel the unconventional development onshore. Now that that has subsided, Gulf development and exploration can continue.  There are huge offshore shelf areas outside the Gulf which remain unexplored as well. All the hokum about ''peak oil" has been prove (once again) to be unnecessary handwringing.

[thackney]

As bad as the incident was, in terms of loss of life and government interference, the fallout from the Macundo blowout actually helped propel the unconventional development onshore. Now that that has subsided, Gulf development and exploration can continue.  There are huge offshore shelf areas outside the Gulf which remain unexplored as well. All the hokum about ''peak oil" has been prove (once again) to be unnecessary handwringing.

Peak oil at $20 a barrel looks a lot different than peak oil at $50 or even $80.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

As bad as the incident was, in terms of loss of life and government interference, the fallout from the Macundo blowout actually helped propel the unconventional development onshore. Now that that has subsided, Gulf development and exploration can continue.  There are huge offshore shelf areas outside the Gulf which remain unexplored as well. All the hokum about ''peak oil" has been prove (once again) to be unnecessary handwringing.

I daresay what propelled the onshore unconventionals was the fact that small independents could participate readily as they were unable to do so offshore where the dollars are high and the timelines long.

Those smaller companies comprise a huge amount of the drilling activity of the past several years.

[Smokin Joe]

I daresay what propelled the onshore unconventionals was the fact that small independents could participate readily as they were unable to do so offshore where the dollars are high and the timelines long.

Those smaller companies comprise a huge amount of the drilling activity of the past several years.

Yep. The company I worked for early in the Bakken Play, eventually sold to a larger company who sold out to an even bigger one. It was the smaller guys who got the ball rolling, though. Then the big ones moved in.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Yep. The company I worked for early in the Bakken Play, eventually sold to a larger company who sold out to an even bigger one. It was the smaller guys who got the ball rolling, though. Then the big ones moved in.

That rolling ball means quite a lot of money was made along the way by the sellers, perhaps by the buyers as well.

It didn't work out for the company I worked for who bought in the Bakken as it did not prove to be core acreage.

[Smokin Joe]

That rolling ball means quite a lot of money was made along the way by the sellers, perhaps by the buyers as well.

It didn't work out for the company I worked for who bought in the Bakken as it did not prove to be core acreage.

It was privately held, and by the time it sold the Bakken interests, those went for $1.85 billion. (As soon as we had drilled the first lateral (Elm Coulee) I asked if I could buy stock--unfortunately I could not.)  Those directly on their payroll got some nice bonuses, I had steady work...the lot of a consultant.  If there were any bonuses in it for us, they were intercepted by the owner of the firm I worked for.