BP has confirmed an oil discovery at the Far South prospect located in the western Green Canyon area of the Gulf of America.
The exploration well, drilled in approximately 4,092ft of water on Green Canyon Block 584, reached a total depth of 23,830ft.
Far South is jointly owned by BP, which operates the asset with a 57.5% stake, and Chevron U.S.A., which holds the remaining 42.5%.
Both the initial well and a sidetrack well encountered oil in Miocene-age reservoirs.
Preliminary analysis of the data suggests that the volume of hydrocarbons discovered may be commercially viable.
The Far South discovery is situated about 6.4km north of the Constellation field, which is also located in the Gulf of America.
BP said that it is aiming to expand its global upstream production to between 2.3 and 2.5 million barrels of oil equivalent per day by 2030, with scope to increase this capacity through to 2035. Of this total, approximately one million barrels per day are targeted from US operations across both offshore and onshore assets.
The oil and gas major stated that the Far South prospect aligns with its plans to develop new sources of hydrocarbons to support its long-term production targets. The company has reported making more than 40 discoveries worldwide in the past decade, including recent findings in Egypt, Trinidad, and the Gulf of America.
As part of its current exploration programme, BP is planning to drill around 40 wells over the next three years. Between 10 and 15 of those wells are scheduled for drilling this year.
The Far South announcement follows the recent start of production from the Cypre gas project operated by bp Trinidad and Tobago (bpTT), a subsidiary jointly owned by bp (70%) and Repsol (30%).
Cypre is located 78km off the southeast coast of Trinidad in the East Mayaro Block, in waters approximately 80m deep. The project is among 10 new developments expected to contribute a combined peak production of 250,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
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