BP plc has awarded the first contracts for Project 20K, a multi-year initiative to develop next-generation systems and tools to unlock the next frontier of deepwater oil and gas resources that currently are “beyond the reach of today’s technology.”

“With this project, BP truly is leading the way to the next frontier in deepwater oil and gas development,” said BP America’s Jackie Mutschler, head of upstream technology. BP “is tapping into expertise from across the industry to tackle this significant challenge. We hope these first contracts are just the beginning of what’s to come with a project that holds such great promise, not just for BP but for the entire industry.”

BP estimates that application of the new technologies across its global portfolio alone could potentially access an additional 10-20 billion boe of resources.

The next-generation technology would help the London-based major access deepwater treasure around the world, including recent discoveries in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) that include Kaskida and Tiber, BP said.

The Kaskida prospect is in the Lower Tertiary Trend in Keathley Canyon (KC), about 246 miles south of Lafayette, LA, in 6,034 feet of water. BP acquired the leases in KC Blocks 292 and 336 in 1997 and 2003. Last year the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement approved a drilling permit for one well in Kaskida, which was the first approved permit in the deepwater GOM to BP since the Macondo well blew out in April 2010 (see Daily GPI, Oct. 27, 2011). Tiber, in KC Block 102, was BP’s second “giant” discovery in 2009 after Kaskida (see Daily GPI, Sept. 3, 2009). Tiber holds an estimated 3 billion boe; BP paid $406,000 for the block in 2003.

Initial contracts for Project 20K were awarded to KBR and FMC Technologies and “are related to key systems associated with the program, which will pursue technologies needed to explore for, develop and produce oil and gas from high-temperature and high-pressure reservoirs up to 20,000 pounds per square inch (psi) and temperatures as high as 350 degrees F.” KBR is to develop program execution and management plans for Project 20K, including capital cost and schedule estimates, risk assessments and technical designs.

BP launched Project 20K in February and management said then that it intended to develop technologies over the next decade in four areas: well design and completions; drilling rigs, riser and blowout prevention equipment; subsea production systems; and well intervention and containment. Those resources are “inaccessible with current equipment,” which BP said has a technical limit of 15,000 psi pressure and temperatures of 250 degrees F.

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