“More oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico helps improve emissions globally,” said Starlee Sykes, a senior vice president at BP.

The oil company BP expects to double the production of crude oil from its Thunder Horse project in the US part of the Gulf of Mexico and to inaugurate its last pumping platform by the end of the year, a company official said this morning.

BP, which is betting on “lower-carbon and cheaper” offshore oil and gas exploration and production in the Gulf, said a lack of oil investment around the world could lead to a crude shortage.

“More oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico helps improve emissions globally,” said Starlee Sykes, BP senior vice president for the Gulf of Mexico and Canada, at the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston.

“We will continue to explore for oil, especially near the current centers,” he added.

BP BP.L expects to produce some 200,000 barrels of oil equivalent (bpd) per day by the end of the year, from the current 100,000 bpd at its Thunder Horse project.

BP will increase crude oil production and open a platform in the Gulf of Mexico
The company is also preparing to launch its fifth operated rig, Argos, the centerpiece of its $9 billion Mad Dog 2 project in the Gulf this year. The submersible platform is expected to increase BP’s oil production in that region by 25%, from 300,000 barrels per day (bpd).

Argos arrived in the Gulf at the beginning of the year, following delays caused by logistics during the pandemic and weather events. Sykes declined to specify in which quarter production will begin.

In September, BP announced the commissioning of the Thunder Horse South phase 2 expansion to increase production at one of the largest fields in the Gulf of Mexico, saying a total of eight wells would be drilled to increase extraction of oil and gas to about 400,000 bpd in the mid-2020s.