Tuesday, Mar 02, 2010
LONDON (Dow Jones)--BP PLC (BP) will make the most fundamental changes to the organization of its exploration and production division since the company's 1998 merger with Amoco, with the aim of cutting costs by more than $1 billion a year, said the company's upstream chief Andy Inglis Tuesday.
BP could save $700 million a year through better project management and $500 million a year by improving the efficiency of its drilling operations, he said.
Technological advances in areas like seismic surveys, sub-sea well intervention and unconventional oil and gas could add an extra 10 billion barrels equivalent of reserves from existing discoveries, he said.
Applying technology like this to Iraq's Rumaila oil field could make it the second most productive field in the world by 2015, he said.
BP will drill its first well offshore Libya this year following extensive seismic surveys, he added.
Company Web site: www.bp.com
-By James Herron, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0)20 7842 9317; james.herron@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
02-03-10 1505GMT
