What lies beneath: How bp’s subsurface team is helping to grow production

How is the subsurface team helping bp to grow?

One way our subsurface team is helping bp grow is through exploration, which is a key part of bp's reset strategy. It’s our job to find and produce the best oil and gas resources. So, this is an exciting opportunity for us to capitalize on our world-class expertise and technological capabilities to grow the business and shape the future of bp as we help to meet the world’s energy demands.

Already this year, we have made six discoveries – in Egypt, Trinidad and Tobago, the Gulf of America, and a significant find in Namibia through Azule Energy, our 50-50 independent joint venture with Eni. These are part of a programme to drill around 40 wells over the next three years.

Historically, we have a strong exploration success rate. Our 10-year track record stands at one in three wells, with more than 44 new discoveries. In that time, we’ve found 3.9 billion barrels of oil equivalent of commercially viable resources.

In terms of resources that have already been discovered, bp has a proud history of operating or providing technical support to a large number of giant and supergiant fields. Today, we’re involved in five of the world’s biggest oil and gas fields: in Azerbaijan, the Gulf of America, the Middle East and Indonesia. Together, these fields are expected to produce around five billion barrels of resources over their lifespans.

This track record of delivery has made us the partner of choice for countries around the world. For example, we were recently chosen to be the technical services provider for the Mumbai High field, India’s largest and most prolific offshore oilfield. We will work in close collaboration with owner and operator ONGC to stabilize the field’s current production decline and restore it to a robust growth trajectory. 

How does bp’s strategy reset earlier this year affect the company’s oil and gas operations?

Let’s start with what won’t change. That’s, first and foremost, our relentless focus on safety. What also won’t change is our expectation that oil and gas will continue to be our primary cash-generating business well into the next decade.

What has changed is that we now plan to grow the upstream and the value of our global portfolio. In February, we increased our expected annual capital investment in oil and gas by around 20% – from around $8.5 billion to around $10 billion a year through 2027. That’s helping us to develop discovered resources and invest in further exploration. 

Already this year, we have started up four major projects, Raven in Egypt, Mento and Cypre in Trinidad & Tobago, plus the first LNG cargo has sailed away from GTA Phase 1 in Mauritania & Senegal. And we have two more major projects slated to start up this year.

What have you found to be the key ingredients to success?

There are many, but at the heart of it are people, partnerships and technology.

At bp, we have a brilliant team of scientists, technologists and engineers – world-class people who have deep technical capabilities, a passion for what they do, plus the relentless commitment to safety I mentioned before. And, I’ve had the good fortune to work with many of them – in the North Sea, the US, and Azerbaijan, to name just a few. 

We work hard to be the partner of choice for governments around the world and many of the world’s best companies and specialists in our sector. Our relationships are built on trust, collaboration and mutual understanding, which are critical for smooth decision making and successful outcomes.

A great example of this is our recent agreement on the redevelopment of several fields in Kirkuk, in Northern Iraq. Working with partners, we can use our experience of managing giant fields to maximize the potential of these resources, which includes an initial production phase of more than three billion barrels of oil equivalent. The wider resource opportunity across the contract and surrounding area is believed to include up to 20 billion barrels of oil equivalent. 

And finally, we’ve been on an incredible technology journey. We moved early to digitize our upstream and we are busy developing and deploying the next wave of technologies so we can unlock further growth.

For example, high-impact seismic technologies have made a major difference to our part of the business. In the Gulf of America, our ability to image the reservoir beneath salt led to the discovery of more than 20 billion barrels of in-place volumes.

What technological advancements are you most excited about?

There are so many at the moment. We can now achieve things that were unthinkable when I started my bp career 26 years ago.

In subsurface, we are using high-performance computing to provide even more detailed, data-driven models for seismic imaging and interpretation. This will help us to further reduce uncertainties and result in improved oil and gas recovery.

Expanding automation in our drilling rig fleet also creates great opportunities. We’re using data analytics to optimize drilling and detect maintenance or other unplanned events early so we can avoid or minimize disruption or outages.

What’s more, using AI, we can safely plan new wells in days, rather than months. This is game-changing. Technology partnerships are important, too. That’s why we are working with Palantir to drive productivity improvements. Their expertise is helping to enhance our predictive analytics capability and forecast equipment failures. That’s resulting in improved facility reliability and early interventions.

With decades of global experience behind you, what makes this moment in the energy sector stand out?

During my career, I’ve had the honour of working in six different countries across a range of environments and development stages – and I’ve seen a lot of changes over that time. But now feels like an unprecedented moment, when demand for all energy types is needed the world over. This presents a great opportunity for a truly integrated energy company like bp. 

We are one of only a few companies in the world with the people, technology and partnerships, high-quality assets, and trading capability to help deliver – at scale – energy to the world, today and tomorrow. We have a plan to win, and that gives me a sense of huge pride and determination to achieve it.