BP announced on Thursday that it has given the thumbs up to invest $9bn in pressing on with the second phase of its Mad Dog deep-water field in the US Gulf of Mexico.
That cost is a lot less than the $20bn the company projected for phase two back in 2013 but is still a huge commitment in current market conditions.
The British supermajor says its new floating production platform could drill as many as 14 wells and produce as much as 140,000 barrels daily. Production is forecast to start in 2021.
Its partners in the Mad Dog project, Chevron and BHP Billiton, with a combined stake of around 40%, have not yet made final investment decisions on phase two.
