HOUSTON (Reuters) – British oil major BP will continue betting on “lower carbon, more economical” offshore oil and gas exploration and production, a company executive said on Monday, warning that lack of investment could lead to global oil scarcity. Offshore operations allow better control of emissions, especially in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, said Starlee […]
HOUSTON (Reuters) – British oil major BP will continue betting on “lower carbon, more economical” offshore oil and gas exploration and production, a company executive said on Monday, warning that lack of investment could lead to global oil scarcity.
Offshore operations allow better control of emissions, especially in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, said Starlee Sykes, BP’s Senior Vice President for the Gulf of Mexico and Canada, during the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston.
“We will continue to explore for oil, primarily close to current hubs,” she said. “More Gulf of Mexico oil and gas helps improve emissions globally”.
About a quarter of U.S. oil and gas output comes from federal lands and waters. More than 1,800 platforms in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, the country’s primary offshore source of oil and gas, provided 1.7 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude production in 2021 mostly from deepwater fields, official data showed.
According to Sykes, BP is looking at natural gas as a “key transition fuel” to move away from crude and other fossil fuels. BP is also exploring opportunities for carbon capture projects, biofuels and hydrogen in the U.S. Gulf, the executive said.
(Reporting by Arathy Somasekhar and Sabrina Valle, writing by Marianna Parraga; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
