BP have become better deepwater operators following the Horizon incident
Mike Daly, Executive Vice president for Exploration BP discussed the key challenges for locating and developing deepwater resources at the 2012 World National Oil Companies Congress.
More and more of BP’s production are from subsea wells and is estimated that the deepwater potential is only half of what we see today. It was stated that in light of the recent Deepwater Horizon incident, BP have become better deepwater operators, with a strong stance on safety.
Offshore oil and gas production are generally more challenging than land-based installations due to the remote locations. In addition production and drilling facilities are typically a large investment. The pressure of the reservoir is the biggest challenge in relation to the depth. e.g In the Caspian Sea, there is a rapid sedimentation rate, which means high pressures are attained very quickly. In other parts of the world, at the same depth you could obtain lower pressures. The technologies to combat these challenges are important.
Nicholas Maden, Senior Vice President for Exploration International Statoil shared a similar view. Their production levels have been growing since 1982, and currently have a capacity of 2 million barrels of oil a day, of which 0.5 million barrels comes internationally. There are a lot of problems associated with deepwater, i.e. Fatal injuries, blowouts (with explosions). In addition deepwater drilling associate risks with security and logistics. The stance is to balance acceptable exploration risks versus the cost of the program. They key is to develop new affordable technologies which can manage increasingly harsher environments.
