BP's Atlantis Major Facility Expansion is a bet on squeezing more oil out of an aging field rather than building a new one. The water injection upgrade in the Gulf of Mexico is expected to add about 10,000 boe/d of gross peak annualized average production, with roughly 5,000 boe/d net to BP, and the project was delivered ahead of schedule and under budget.
What the expansion adds
The upgrade adds two new subsea water injection wells, new subsea trees, and new water injection pumps on the Atlantis platform topsides. Water injection pushes water into a reservoir to raise pressure and move more oil toward the producing wells. BP says the added capacity is meant to increase pressure in targeted reservoirs and recover more oil, and it also opens the door to more water injection capacity at the platform in the future.
The field
Atlantis was discovered in 1998 and has been in production for nearly 20 years. It sits about 150 miles south of New Orleans in 7,074 feet of water. BP operates the field with a 56% working interest; Woodside Energy holds the remaining 44%.
A wider Gulf buildout
BP operates five production platforms in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico: Argos, Atlantis, Mad Dog, Na Kika, and Thunder Horse. The company has also sanctioned two new platforms, Kaskida and Tiber, which are expected to add a combined 160,000 bopd of new production capacity in the Gulf by the end of 2030.
