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LONDON (Alliance News) - BP PLC on Tuesday said it has approved a "major extension" at the Atlantis oil field in the US Gulf of Mexico, as well as identifying additional oil resources in the region.
Oil major BP said that the USD1.3 billion phase three development at Atlantis is the "latest example" of its strategy for increasing its advantaged oil production via existing facilities in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Atlantis expansion will involve the construction of a new subsea production system from eight new wells all tied to the existing oil platform, 150 miles south of the city of New Orleans, US.
This is expected to increase gross production from the platform by an estimated 38,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day at its peak and is scheduled to come on-steam in 2020.
BP's approval was given after advanced seismic imaging and reservoir characterisation found a further 400 million barrels of oil in the Atlantis field.
Using the same technology and analysis, another 1 billion barrels worth of oil were found at the Thunder Horse field, also located in the Gulf of Mexico.
Moreover, two new discoveries near the Na Kika production facility in the Gulf could result in more tie-back development opportunities.
These oil discoveries are the Manuel and Nearly Headless Nick prospects. BP's partner on Manuel is Royal Dutch Shell PLC, which holds a 50% interest.
BP also has a 20% working interest in the Nearly Headless Nick discovery, operated by LLOG Exploration Co.
"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 BP Upstream Chief Executive Bernard Looney.
"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," Looney added.
Shares in BP were up 0.4% at 523.10 pence on Tuesday.
