LONDON (Alliance News) - BP PLC and Royal Dutch Shell PLC Monday signed an agreement to establish an industry initiative to develop a new generation of standardized, subsea production equipment designed to produce oil and gas from deepwater reservoirs.
The agreement, which also includes the US's Anadarko Petroleum Corp and ConocoPhillips Ltd, was announced by US oil services company FMC Technologies Inc.
FMC Technologies said it is bringing together the four oil operators to improve overall deepwater development through the standardization of materials, processes, and interfaces, as well as the enhancement of reliability and operability.
The news comes as BP continues to face massive compensation claims related to its 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which BP partly blames on problems reading pressure in deepsea systems.
The explosion at the Deepwater Horizon rig, which occurred in April 2010, killed 11 workers and triggered the worst offshore oil spill in US history. BP has been fighting to limit the compensation related to the spill. BP recently reached a USD7.8 billion settlement in business claims.
BP shares were down 0.03% to 493.85 pence, while Royal Dutch Shell A shares were down 1.0% to 2,386.50 pence on Monday.
By Tom McIvor; tommcivor@alliancenews.com; @TomMcIvor1
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