BHP Billiton greenlights a $2.2bn investment into BP’s Mad Dog oilfield
BHP Billiton today announced it has approved a $2.2bn (£1.75bn) investment into the second phase of BP's deepwater Mad Dog oilfield.
The project, located in the Gulf of Mexico, includes a new floating production facility with the capacity to produce up to 140,000 gross barrels of crude oil per day from up to 14 production wells. Production is set to begin in the 2022 financial year.
The global miner will hold a 23.9 per cent stake in the Mad Dog field, while BP holds 60.5 per cent and Union Oil Company, an affiliate of Chevron, has 15.6 per cent.
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BHP is focusing capital spending on expanding its copper and petroleum production as one of its key growth projects.
Steve Pastor, president of petroleum operations, said: "Mad Dog Phase Two is one of the largest, discovered and undeveloped resources in the Gulf of Mexico, one of BHP Billiton's preferred conventional deep-water basins.
"It offers an attractive investment opportunity for BHP Billiton and aligns with our strategic objective to build our conventional portfolio through the development of large, long-life, high-quality resources".
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