PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Oil major British Petroleum (BP) has sanctioned the $9-billion Mad Dog Phase 2 project, in the US, which will include a new floating production platform with a 140 000 bbl/d capacity.
Oil production is expected to begin in late 2021.
BP, which is the project operator with a 60.5% interest in the project, said this week that co-owners BHP Billiton and Chevron still had to make a final investment decision.
The Mad Dog Phase 2 development was placed on ice in 2013, after an initial design proved too complex and costly.
However, since then, BP has worked with its joint venture partners and contractors to simplify and standardise the platform’s design, reducing the overall project cost by about 60%.
The $9-billion project is now expected to be profitable at or below the current oil price.
“Mad Dog Phase 2 has been one of the most anticipated projects in the US deep-water and underscores our continued commitment to the Gulf of Mexico,” said BP Gulf of Mexico business president Richard Morrison.
The Mad Dog 2 platform will be moored about six miles to the south-west of the existing Mad Dog platform, which has a capacity to produce 80 000 bbl/d of oil and 60-million cubic feet a day of natural gas.