Gas production, which is now overwhelmingly from oil wells, also ticked up. However, gas production remains at historically low levels. (See charts below.)
Time to take another look at ultradeep shelf gas? More on this in a later post.
Meanwhile, two new floating production units, Beacon’s Shenandoah and LLOG’s Salamanca are now on line. More on this and bp’s Tiber announcement in an upcoming post.
The average oil production rate for the Gulf OCS was 1.915 million bopd in June, the highest rate since Oct. 2023 and thus the highest in the history of the Gulf of America 😉.
Natural gas production, which is now primarily from oil wells (i.e. associated gas) and is thus more closely linked to oil production rates, increased by >10% in June to over 60 bcf. As was the case for oil, gas production was the highest since Oct. 2023.
It is now peak hurricane season, so the eyes of production forecasters are focused on the tropics. Few need to be reminded about what happened 20 years ago when Hurricanes Katrina and Rita roared through the Gulf, preceded by Hurricane Ivan “The Terrible” one year earlier. Those 3 hurricanes triggered major improvements in hurricane preparedness, particularly with regard to stationkeeping capabilities.
BP has announced it will cut its renewable energy investments and instead focus on increasing oil and gas production.
The energy giant revealed the shift in strategy on Wednesday following pressure from some investors unhappy its profits and share price have been lower than its rivals.
BP said it would increase its investments in oil and gas by about 20% to $10bn (£7.9bn) a year, while decreasing previously planned funding for renewables by more than $5bn (£3.9bn).
The future looks like this: BP Argos floating production unit, Gulf of America – simpler, safer, greener
It’s more than okay to be an oil and gas producer – no need to apologize or pretend to be something else. Oil and gas are, and will continue to be, essential to economies worldwide. Companies should focus on safely and cleanly achieving production objectives.
If a company thinks other types of energy investments make good business sense, they should engage in those activities. However, they should not do so to curry favor with anti-oil factions who can never be placated. Attempts to do so will only weaken your company.
BP is doing well in the Gulf of America – no. 2 producer in 2024.
November 2024 Gulf of Mexico oil production was the lowest in the 2023/24 timeframe, with the exception of Sept. 2024 when production was reduced by Tropical Storms Francine and Helene.
Look for production in the Gulf of America to soar! (eventually😉)
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 