BP aimed to start up six major oil and gas projects in 2025 – and delivered. From subsea advancements to LNG megaprojects, each new development has helped to grow production and meet demand for energy.

“What makes this year special is not just the number of start-ups, but their quality and impact ,” says Ewan Drummond, head of projects.

The six projects are expected to add around 150,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day of combined net peak production. They are a key part of our plans to grow oil and gas production, and long-term value for shareholders.

Safety and speed

The projects span five locations – the US, UK, Egypt, Trinidad and Tobago, and Mauritania and Senegal.

“Completing complex projects safely and ahead of schedule means we see returns sooner – exactly what our investors value,” says Ewan.

In the Gulf of America, the Argos Southwest Extension project achieved first oil just 25 months after discovery, setting a record for bp, and came online seven months earlier than expected. It will add 10,000 barrels a day of peak net oil production.

Achieving this was less about one major breakthrough and more about many small thoughtful decisions, says project general manager for the Americas, Olatundun Adejuyigbe. Even before the project started, engineering teams thought about how they could collaborate more efficiently with suppliers. From the outset, they looked to make gains in the schedule.

“Our number one priority in developing this project was safety, and then right behind that was completing it in the timeframe and budget that we wanted while ensuring we didn’t run into unexpected setbacks,” said Olatundun.

“No action was too small for us to take. If we could save even half a day, we did it. The incremental savings ended up having a massive cumulative impact.”

Unlocking operational excellence

Ahmed Nabeeh, who led both the Murlach project in the North Sea and Raven Infills in Egypt, pointed to learning from each other as one of the key factors in the teams’ ability to work through challenges quickly and deliver high quality work from the outset.

“The projects organization is well connected, so if something happens on a project in one place in the world, I’ll know about it almost in real time and can learn from their experience,” he says.

That’s how Murlach was delivered in just two and a half years from project sign off to first oil and gas, he says. Before starting the project, the team studied the development of the similar Seagull project, also in the North Sea. They then took the lessons learned and applied them to Murlach before work began.

“Throughout the project, there were no surprises. We built on what we’d learned on other projects, rather than relearning everything,” he says.

Similarly, in Egypt, where Raven’s gas will help meet local energy demand, the team was able to use its deep connections to global suppliers to get the materials they needed faster in the aftermath of Covid. That led to them ultimately completing the project ahead of schedule.

Complex engineering

Greater Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) is another of bp’s major project that started this year, and which highlights our advanced engineering capabilities. Located off the coast of West Africa, in the Atlantic ocean where the borders of Mauritania and Senegal meet, it’s four projects in one, and includes an ultra-deepwater subsea system, a large floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, a floating LNG facility (FLNG), and the hub terminal where visiting LNG carriers berth to transfer LNG into their tanks before export. A 1.1-kilometre breakwater made of 21 large concrete caissons was also built on a foundation of 2 million tons of rock to protect the hub terminal and the FLNG, and to shield visiting LNG carriers from adverse weather.

The operations have been running smoothly, and the project is ahead of its plan for its first year.

What’s next

With these six start-ups delivered, bp is now looking to deliver four further developments through 2027 – two in the Gulf of America and two in Trinidad and Tobago. These projects are expected to further contribute to the growth of our oil and gas production.

In addition, we’ve also sanctioned major projects like the gas and carbon capture, utilization, and storage Ubadari project in Indonesia, and the deepwater Kaskida and Tiber-Guadalupe projects in the Gulf of America.

“What made these six projects this year a success was our commitment to safety, staying focused, managing risks thoughtfully, and making the most out of every pound we invest,” says Ewan. “Those are the principles we’ve kept front and centre, and they’ll continue to shape how we work on future projects.”