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  4. BP makes discovery in Mancos Shale

BP makes discovery in Mancos Shale

Release date:
August 7, 2017
Recent well test shows potential for major natural gas field in New Mexico
Lower 48 - Mancos

HOUSTON – BP announced today it has brought online a highly productive natural gas well in the Mancos Shale, highlighting the potential of the New Mexico field to be a significant new source of U.S. natural gas supply.

 

Early production rates at the NEBU 602 Com 1H well in San Juan County are the highest achieved in the past 14 years within the San Juan Basin, a large oil and gas producing area spanning southwest Colorado and northwest New Mexico that includes the Mancos Shale. The well achieved an average 30-day initial production rate of 12.9 million cubic feet per day.

 

The successful well test took place on assets BP acquired in late 2015, which expanded the company’s existing position in the San Juan Basin and provided improved access to the Mancos Shale.

 

“We are delighted with the initial production rate of this well,” said Dave Lawler, CEO of BP’s U.S. Lower 48 onshore business. “This result supports our strategic view that significant resource potential exists in the San Juan Basin, and gives us confidence to pursue additional development of the Mancos Shale, which we believe could become one of the leading shale plays in the U.S.”

 

The NEBU 602 Com 1H well was drilled with a 10,000-foot lateral in an area known as the Northeast Blanco Unit (“NEBU”), a section of federal lands located in San Juan and Rio Arriba counties of New Mexico, where BP has had a presence since the 1920s.

 

In early 2015 BP began operating its U.S. Lower 48 business as a separate business, with its own governance, processes and systems. Since then, the business has achieved significant financial and operational improvements, largely through the use of innovative drilling and completions techniques and the application of data analytics. It has also increased production and added acreage through acquisitions -- all while maintaining an unwavering commitment to safety and the environment.

 

BP Lower 48 expects to open a new headquarters office in Denver in 2018 that will be closer to the majority of its operated oil and natural gas production assets and proved reserves in the Rocky Mountain region.

BPX Energy
 

About BP

BP is a global producer of oil and gas with operations in over 70 countries. Over the past 10 years BP has invested $90 billion in the U.S. – more than any other energy company. BP employs about 14,000 people across the U.S. and supports more than 130,000 additional jobs through all its business activities. For more information on BP in the U.S. visit www.bp.com/us.

 

Notes to editors

  • BP's U.S. Lower 48 onshore operations span five states — Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming — and seven oil and gas basins, covering an area roughly the size of New Jersey.
  • With a material resource base of approximately 7.5 billion barrels across 6 million net acres, the business has average daily net production of nearly 300,000 barrels of oil equivalent.
  • The business produces natural gas — along with oil, condensate and gas liquids — from both conventional and unconventional rock formations.
  • BP’s Lower 48 unit is one of the largest producers in the San Juan Basin of New Mexico and Colorado, where the company operates approximately 3,900 wells.
  • In December 2015, BP announced the acquisition of Devon Energy’s assets in the San Juan Basin. The deal consisted largely of Devon’s operated interest in the Northeast Blanco Unit, a section of federal lands located in San Juan and Rio Arriba counties of New Mexico, which included 480 wells on over 33,000 gross acres.

 

Further information

BP Press Office, Houston

Phone: +1 281 366 4463

Email: uspress@bp.com

 

Cautionary statement

 

In order to utilize the ‘safe harbor’ provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the ‘PSLRA’), BP is providing the following cautionary statement. This press release contains certain forward-looking statements – that is, statements related to future, not past events – which may relate to one or more of the financial condition, results of operations and businesses of BP and certain of the plans and objectives of BP with respect to these items. These statements are generally, but not always, identified by the use of words such as ‘will’, ‘expects’, ‘is expected to’, ‘aims’, ‘should’, ‘may’, ‘objective’, ‘is likely to’, ‘intends’, ‘believes’, ‘anticipates’, ‘plans’, ‘we see’ or similar expressions. Actual results may differ from those expressed in such statements, depending on a variety of factors including the risk factors set forth in our most recent Annual Report and Form 20-F under “Risk factors” and in any of our more recent public reports.
 
This document contains references to non-proved resources and production outlooks based on non-proved resources that the SEC's rules prohibit us from including in our filings with the SEC. U.S. investors are urged to consider closely the disclosures in our Form 20-F, SEC File No. 1-06262.
 
Our most recent Annual Report and Form 20-F and other period filings are available on our website at www.bp.com, or can be obtained from the SEC by calling 1-800-SEC-0330 or on its website at www.sec.gov.