BP brings year's seventh major project into production

(Sharecast News) - BP has brought its seventh major upstream project of the year into production after announcing the start up of the Atlantis Drill Center 1 expansion in the US Gulf of Mexico on Thursday, delivering first oil two months earlier than planned. The energy giant said the two-well subsea tieback to the existing Atlantis platform was expected to add about 15,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day at gross peak annualised average rates.

Atlantis, one of BP's longest-running Gulf assets, can process up to 200,000 barrels of oil per day.

The expansion extended the field's footprint first established in 1998 and marked BP's fifth major 2025 start-up delivered ahead of schedule.

BP said the early startup was achieved by using existing subsea inventory, improving drilling and completion efficiency, and streamlining offshore execution.

"Atlantis Drill Center 1 caps off an excellent year of seven major project start-ups for BP," said Gordon Birrell, BP's executive vice president of production and operations.

"This project supports our plans to safely grow our upstream business, which includes increasing US production to around 1 million barrels of oil equivalent per day by 2030.

"This latest success demonstrates the dedication of our US project team and our teams around the world, who are delivering new barrels at pace and with lower production costs, in service of growing long-term value for shareholders."

The project is the second in a series of developments BP aimed to deliver in the Gulf of Mexico by 2030, which it said would help lift its offshore production capacity to more than 400,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

In August, BP brought online the Argos Southwest Extension, a three-well tieback adding 20,000 daily equivalent barrels.

A further expansion at Atlantis, the Major Facility Expansion, was planned for 2027.

"This expansion at Atlantis is further testament to the benefits of maximizing production from our existing platforms in the Gulf of America, growing BP's US offshore energy production safely and efficiently," commented Andy Krieger, BP's senior vice president for the Gulf of America and Canada.

"We are committed to investing in America as we firmly believe this region will continue to play a critical role in delivering secure and reliable energy to the world today and tomorrow."

The company said it had now started major projects this year in Trinidad and Tobago, the UK North Sea, Egypt, Mauritania and Senegal, alongside the Gulf of Mexico expansions, contributing to its target of delivering 10 major start-ups globally by 2027.

BP operates Atlantis with a 56% working interest, while Woodside Energy holds 44%.

At 0826 GMT, shares in BP were up 0.54% at 445.65p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.