BP has affirmed it will continue it will invest more money into to leading oil and natural-gas fields in the Middle East despite the company’s transition to renewable energy and tries to lower emissions, according to Bloomberg.
Stephen Willis, BP’s senior vice president for the Middle East, said in a video interview from Oman “We will continue to invest in these [countries],” referring to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman, and Iraq, which he said have “world-leading operating cost, capital cost, and production efficiency performance.”
In terms of Iraq, oil production at Rumaila in southern Iraq is slightly below 1.4 million barrels a day (mmbbl/d) at current with production cuts in place, Willis said. However, Rumaila’s production capacity would decline to around 1 mmbbl/d to 1.2 mmbbl/d without workers adding wells, maintaining pressure, and separating out water. Thus, BP is looking to make investments in these fields. The future target of 2.1 mmbbl/d does not have a timeline, but the field’s capacity is estimated to increase to 1.7 mmbbl/d in the next several years.
As for Oman, BP is looking to reach its full capacity of 1.5 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d) by early 2021 from the gas fields of Khazzan and Ghazeer in Block 61. It could add another 400 million cubic feet per day of output with further investment, according to Willis.
In Abu Dhabi, BP is working with government-owned producer Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) to boost the capacity of onshore oil fields beyond 2 mmbbl/d. BP holds a 10% stake in those fields.
