Oil major Chevron has joined forces with BP and ConcoPhillips to explore and appraise 24 jointly-held leases in the Gulf of Mexico.
The companies will combine their efforts on moving two Paleogene discoveries closer to development and provide expanded exploration into the emerging market.
Under the agreement, BP will sell to Chevron half of its current equity interest in the Gila and Tiber fields.
The three oil majors have also agreed to joint ownership interests in exploration blocks east of Gila, known as Gibson, where they plan to drill this year.
It means they will all have the same working interests across Gila and Gibson and any future centralised production facility.
Chevron will hold equity interest of 36%, BP 34% and ConocoPhillips 30%.
In Tiber, BP and Chevron will each hold equity interest of 31%, Petrobras 20% and ConocoPhillips 18%.
Chevron will operate Tiber, Gila and Gibson, building on its recent success in starting up the Jack/St. Malo oil production platform in the Paleogene/Lower Tertiary on time and on budget.
Operatorship is expected to be transferred after BP finishes drilling appraisal wells at Gila and Tiber.
BP believes combining the technical strengths and financial resources of these three companies will provide greater efficiency through scale, reduce subsurface risk and increase the likelihood of achieving a future commercial development.
Richard Morrison, president of BP’s Gulf of Mexico business said: “Completing these agreements will enable BP to do three things that are at the core of our strategy in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico.
“It will support continued exploration and development in the Paleogene, which we expect to be a key part of our future in the region.
“It will allow us to manage and maintain capital discipline by sharing development costs. And transferring operatorship of these assets to Chevron will allow BP to increase our focus on maximizing production at our four existing producing hubs in the Gulf, each of which is still in the early stages of development.”
BP discovered Tiber in 2009 and Gila in 2013, and in October 2014 participated as a co-owner in the Chevron-operated Guadalupe discovery.
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