Site traffic information and cookies

We use cookies to collect and analyse information on our site's performance and to enable the site to function. Cookies also allow us and our partners to show you relevant ads when you visit our site and other 3rd party websites, including social networks. You can choose to allow all cookies by clicking ‘Allow all’ or manage them individually by clicking ‘Manage cookie preferences,’ where you will also find more information.

Manage cookie preferences

  1. Home
  2. What we do
  3. Oil and gas

Oil and gas

A resilient oil and gas business is an essential part of our transformation to an integrated energy company

Oil and gas desktop
Oil & gas

Experience & technology

Slide 1 of 3

Building on experience

bp has more than 110 years of experience in the exploration, extraction, production and refining of oil and gas. In that time, we’ve learned a lot about managing the complexity of huge energy infrastructure design, construction and operation.

Now, our experienced engineers are using innovative technologies to help produce the energy the world wants and needs today and in the future.

It’s all part of our efforts to work more safely and efficiently, and grow the value of bp.

We have around 10,900 engineers around the world
Slide 1 of 1

Card 1

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Trees icon
Bioenergy production in 2020 increased by 36%. We supply sustainable aviation fuel to more than 20 locations across three continents.
Bioenergy (flipped)
Bioenergy is energy made from biomass or biofuel. Biomass is any organic material that has absorbed sunlight and stored it in the form of chemical energy.
Wind turbine icon
bp’s offshore wind pipeline at the end of 2021 was 3.7GW, a 68.2% increase over 2020.
Wind (flipped)
Wind power, or wind energy, is the use of wind to provide mechanical power through wind turbines to turn electric generators for electrical power.
Solar panel icon
Acquiring 9GW of solar development projects in the US in 2021 helped to grow bp’s renewable pipeline to 23.1GW net. Solar (19.4GW) was up 123% on 2020.
Solar (flipped)
Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the sun that is harnessed using a range of ever-evolving technologies.
CO2 down icon
Early positions taken in green and blue hydrogen, enabled by the scale-up of carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS).
CO2 (flipped)
Carbon capture and storage is the process of capturing carbon dioxide before it enters the atmosphere.

The world wants and needs an energy system that’s secure, affordable and – increasingly – lower carbon. We want to play our part. That’s why we are investing in lower carbon energy and investing in oil and gas.  

 

We believe doing both is how we most effectively support the transition to a better, more balanced global energy system.   

 

The Ukraine crisis has shown our energy system to be fragile. A disruption to around just 3% of the world’s gas supply led to a sevenfold increase in the gas price, and a cost-of-living crisis for many economies.  

 

The world cannot simply ‘switch off’ the existing system before it has built the new. The transition has to be orderly, so that supply keeps pace with demand – and, at the same time, it has to be rapid, so that it stays in line with the Paris Agreement.   

 

Achieving this requires huge investment in lower carbon energy. And it requires ongoing investment in oil and gas. 

On this page
Why bp is investing in oil and gas
Our oil and gas business
Net zero by 2050 or sooner
How we’re preparing for tomorrow
Energy for today and tomorrow
Oil and gas news and stories

Why bp is investing in oil and gas

Oil and gas supply about 55% of the world’s energy.1  The world consumes around 100 million barrels of oil a day, and around 4,000 billion cubic metres of natural gas a year.2 It’s energy that keeps the lights on, gets us from A to B, and heats our homes.   

 

Without continued investment, oil and gas production would fall suddenly, not gradually. Faster than the world can build lower carbon alternatives. 

 

Further investment in oil and gas, therefore, helps to meet the world’s growing energy consumption. And it can help to fund the transition to lower carbon energy as well.  

 

That’s certainly the case for integrated energy companies like bp, where we are investing in low carbon energy AND, not OR, oil and gas. 

 

1Source: Energy Institute
2Source: Statistical Review of World Energy
Gordon Birrell, EVP, production & operations
“We are investing in the safe production of oil and gas. And we’re investing in lower carbon energy. That’s how we are playing our part in supplying the energy the world demands today, while helping to create a better, more balanced energy system for tomorrow.” Gordon Birrell, executive vice president, production & operations

And,
not or.

The world's transition to a more secure, more affordable, lower carbon energy system needs massive investment in lower carbon energies AND continued investment in oil and gas as the alternatives grow. We're transforming bp to play our part – discover more below

Our transformation

Our oil and gas business 

We have oil and gas operations and interests in many countries around the world – offshore and onshore. And our six refineries in the US and Europe are producing essential transport fuels and other products for everyday life. 

How we’re working to make oil and gas production better

Boosting gas supply

The new Train 3 at our Tangguh liquefied natural gas operations means the expanded facility is expected to account for more than a third of Indonesia’s gas production

Refining for today and tomorrow

At our Castellón refinery, we’re increasing our biofuels co-processing capacity alongside traditional fuels, and have plans for green hydrogen production

Reducing emissions

In the US, bpx energy has electrified 95% of its operated wells in the Permian

Net zero by 2050 or sooner 

To help meet bp’s ambition to be a net zero company by 2050 or sooner, we’re working hard to reduce emissions from our operations. 

bp’s Aim 1 is to achieve net zero operations by 2050. Compared to 2019, we’ve reduced emissions from our operations by 41% and we’re aiming for a 50% reduction by 2030 against our 2019 baseline.

Find out more about our safety performance and action towards net zero in our Sustainability Report.

Our Aim 4 is about enhancing methane measurement and reducing methane intensity. We successfully achieved our aim to complete deployment of our methane measurement approach1 at all our in-scope major oil and gas processing sites by the end of 2023. We’ve already decreased methane intensity to less than half its previous value from its 2019 baseline2 – from 0.14% to 0.05%3. 

 

1bp’s measurement approach is aligned with the Oil and Gas Methane Partnership (OGMP2.0) Level 4 source level guidance.   
2 bp net zero ambition progress update.
3Figures calculated using existing methodologies. While this reduction shows progress in reducing methane emissions, it does not directly correlate to progress towards meeting the 2025 target of methane intensity of 0.20% using our measurement approach.

How we’re preparing for tomorrow

At our Tangguh operations in Indonesia, bp and our partners are working on developing a carbon capture and storage (CCS) project to capture the CO2 released from gas extraction and inject it into an underground reservoir where it can be safely stored. The planned CCUS project expects to capture 30 million tonnes of CO2 over the life of the field.


We are evolving several of our refineries to create ‘integrated energy hubs’, enabling them to continue to supply essential products such as petrol and diesel, while also integrating bioenergy feedstocks and hydrogen. 

Ewan Drummond, VP Global Projects, BP
“The world wants and needs a better and more balanced energy system that delivers secure, affordable and lower carbon energy. And the transition needs to be orderly. Our oil and gas operations have a fundamental role to play in supporting this transition.” Ewan Drummond, senior vice president of projects
Ewan talks to Energy in focus magazine about how bp’s oil and gas business is helping to support the energy transition and securing energy for today’s needs.
Read his interview

Energy for today and tomorrow

See how we are turning plans into action, working towards providing more energy for the world that’s secure and increasingly lower carbon

Electrifying operations

Our onshore bpx energy operations in Texas just got a lot quieter. That’s because we’re switching on natural gas wells powered by clean electricity. We’re well on our way to our goal of 95% electrification in our Permian basin operations by the end of 2023. 

India’s deepwater gas project

bp and Reliance Industries have begun production at the third of three major gas projects that together contribute to meeting about 15% of all the gas needed to help power India’s homes and businesses. MJ came online in 2023 and its eight wells are a feat of engineering. They are drilled in depths up to 1,100 metres – that’s a depth greater than the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa. Watch this film to find out more about all three projects.

The outlook for natural gas demand depends on the speed of the energy transition

The prospects for natural gas are shaped by two significant but opposing trends: increasing demand in emerging economies as they grow and industrialize, offset by a shift away from natural gas to greater electrification and lower carbon fuels as the world decarbonizes. The net impact of these two opposing forces depends on the speed of the energy transition.

Oil and gas news and stories

  • Production & operations
  • Gas
  • Oil
  1.  
     
  2.  
     
  3.  
     
  4.  
     
  5.  
     
  6.  
     
  7.  
     
  8.  
     

Related content

Find out more about production & operations at bp

From paper to production: Argos starts up

Find out more about how bp is transforming