BP fires up 7th major project: First oil achieved two months ahead of schedule in US Gulf

December 11, 2025, by Melisa Cavcic

UK-headquartered energy giant BP has put into production mode an expansion project in the U.S. Gulf of America (Gulf of Mexico), as its seventh major upstream project that started up this year and the fifth to come online earlier than planned.

Two months after bringing its Murlach subsea tie-back development to the existing Eastern Trough Area Project (ETAP) central processing facility (CPF) on stream in the UK sector of the North Sea as its sixth major project in 2025, BP has delivered first oil two months ahead of plan from the two-well Atlantis Drill Center 1 expansion project in the Gulf of America, which is its seventh major project start-up.

This subsea tie-back to the existing Atlantis platform will add gross peak production of around 15,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d). Atlantis, one of BP’s longest-running platforms in the Gulf of America, has a gross production capacity of up to 200,000 barrels of oil per day. The firm is Atlantis’ operator with a 56% working interest, and the co-owner is Woodside Energy with the remaining 44% working interest.

The Atlantis Drill Center 1 expansion, which connects new wells to existing offshore production facilities through pipelines, extends the footprint of the Atlantis field discovered in 1998. The company delivered the tie-back by utilizing existing subsea inventory, drilling and completing wells more efficiently, and streamlining offshore execution planning.

Gordon Birrell, BP’s EVP of Production & Operations, commented: “Atlantis Drill Center 1 caps off an excellent year of seven major project start-ups for BP. This project supports our plans to safely grow our upstream business, which includes increasing US production to around 1 million barrels of oil equivalent per day by 2030.

“This latest success demonstrates the dedication of our US project team and our teams around the world, who are delivering new barrels at pace and with lower production costs, in service of growing long-term value for shareholders.”

According to the operator, the Atlantis Drill Center 1 expansion is the second in a series of new projects it is planning in the U.S. Gulf of America between now and the end of the decade that are expected to enable the firm to boost its capacity to produce more than 400,000 boe/d from the U.S. offshore region by 2030.

The company began production from the Argos Southwest Extension project, a three-well subsea tie-back, in August 2025, adding 20,000 boe/d barrels a day of gross peak annualized average oil production to the Argos platform.

BP plans to deliver the Atlantis Major Facility Expansion in 2027, which will further increase production from the Atlantis field using existing infrastructure. These projects are part of the firm’s plan to deliver ten major project start-ups globally by 2027.

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Andy Krieger, BP’s Senior Vice President for the Gulf of America and Canada, stated: “This expansion at Atlantis is further testament to the benefits of maximizing production from our existing platforms in the Gulf of America, growing BP’s US offshore energy production safely and efficiently.

“We are committed to investing in America as we firmly believe this region will continue to play a critical role in delivering secure and reliable energy to the world today and tomorrow.”

BP operates five production platforms in the Gulf of America: Argos, Atlantis, Mad Dog, Na Kika, and Thunder Horse. The company also holds interests in four non-operated hubs: Great White, Mars, Olympus, and Ursa.