In a word: BP's major projects for 2018

This year, BP is set to deliver six upstream major projects in Asia, Europe, North Africa and North America, following on from seven successful start-ups in 2017. Here, BP Magazine asks the leaders responsible for the developments – David O’Connor, head of the global projects organization and David Campbell, BP's head of Russia – to describe each one in a single adjective

‘Stunning’ - Atoll Phase 1

“It may seem a strange adjective for a gas project, but I describe Atoll Phase 1, offshore Egypt in the East Nile Delta, as stunning. It is planned to be online towards the end of the first quarter of 2018. The team has done an absolutely phenomenal job of progressing it safely, with the local team setting new benchmarks for us. It is a fantastic job by all involved.”

‘Foundational’ - Clair Ridge

“The Clair Ridge project in the UK North Sea is the next phase of development for the massive Clair field. Set to come online in 2018, it’s foundational for the region because Clair Ridge is creating a platform for future developments west of Shetland. 

There will be more to come after Clair Ridge; we are already looking at some exploration in the area such as Clair South and it will create the opportunity to develop the northern part of the field in the future. It’s an important asset for BP in the North Sea.”

'Transformational' - Shah Deniz Stage 2

“Shah Deniz Stage 2 is the biggest of all our major projects set to be delivered in 2018. It’s actually a series of mega projects, across the Southern Gas Corridor. 

When it was sanctioned back in 2013, many in the industry did not believe it could be done, due to its complexity. But, as we enter the new year, we are ahead of plan and under budget.

I describe Shah Deniz Stage 2 as transformational, because it gives us confidence that these mega projects can be delivered.”

‘Innovative’ - Constellation

“The Constellation project in the Gulf of Mexico came out of a discovery previously called Hopkins that we made two years ago. At the time, we planned to do a fast-paced development but our appraisal well revealed that the reservoir was smaller than we’d hoped. That meant the original development plan was no longer viable or economical.

But ‘innovation’ is the word for me on Constellation; the team looked innovatively at how else we could develop it and we connected with a nearby producer – Anadarko, in this case – to partner with us and for them to develop the field through their existing facilities. What could have been a disappointment was turned into an opportunity.”

‘Agile’ - West Nile Delta, Giza/Fayoum

“The Giza-Fayoum project in Egypt’s West Nile Delta is an example of agile delivery and the reason I describe it as such is because we originally set up a three-field Giza-Fayoum-Raven project to be delivered as one in 2019.

Conversations with our regional team and the Egyptian Government highlighted the deep need for gas in the country – and quickly. Our project teams went back to the drawing board to look at it again and found a way to split out Giza and Fayoum from the Raven delivery. 

So, we recreated the plan to bring gas on stream from Giza and Fayoum in 2018, with Raven to follow in 2019. The agility lay in the ability to see the demand for energy and taking action to deliver.”

'Collaborative' - Taas-Yuryakh expansion

President for BP Russia, David Campbell says: "This project is an example of great collaboration, as it is led by our partner Rosneft in the remote eastern Russian region of Yakutia/Sakha Republic.

"We entered into the joint venture in 2015 to develop the existing Srednebotuobinskoye field, with gross production of 20,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d). The expansion project will allow the increase of production to 100,000 boe/d by 2021, with a BP share of 20,000 boe/d.

"More than 4,000 people have been working through the unusually cold winter to complete the facilities expansion; more than 100 development wells are already drilled and ready to be brought on-line. The project is the first of what I hope will be a series of joint venture investments in support of our strategy to build a material business in Russia together with Rosneft."