BP says it can grow oil output over the long term from its existing discoveries, chief executive Murray Auchincloss said today.
"We now have the potential to grow long-term organic oil volumes for a long duration," Auchincloss said on BP's third-quarter results call. "I'm not sure I've been able to say that over the past 25 years — that we've been in a resource position like that. It's a nice problem to have."
BP will remain tightly focused on capital discipline, budgeting $13bn–$15bn/yr in spending, he said. This means the company faces choices between boosting short-term output and investing in longer-term production.
"Of course, we can pivot more capital into [US onshore subsidiary] BPX Energy and drive up near-term production, or we can pivot more to things like the Paleogene and Brazil to drive longer-term resources production," Auchinloss said.
BPX Energy, BP's US shale unit, drove a 2.7pc year-on-year rise in output from the Oil Production & Operations segment to 1.52mn b/d of oil equivalent in January–September. Auchincloss said BPX's operations improved productivity by 30pc in completions and 15pc in drilling over the past year, with top-quartile performance in drilling speed and net present value per dollar spent.
BP decided in late September to proceed with its 80,000 b/d Tiber-Guadalupe project in the US Gulf of Mexico, part of a plan to unlock around 10bn bl of oil discovered in its Paleogene assets in the region.
In Brazil, BP has a team working on a potential early production scheme for its Bumerangue discovery, where the company last week confirmed the presence of a liquids-rich 1,000m hydrocarbon column, including 100m of oil and 900m of gas-condensate.
Earlier today, BP reported a profit for July–September that beat analysts' expectations.
