BP Announces Gulf of Mexico Discovery

BP America Inc. announced today an oil discovery at its Freedom Prospect in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. The well, located in Mississippi Canyon Block 948, approximately 70 miles southeast of the Louisiana Coast, is in about 6,100 feet (1,860 metres) of water. The Freedom well was drilled to a total depth of approximately 29,280 feet (8,927m) and encountered greater than 550 net feet of hydrocarbon-bearing sands in Middle and Lower Miocene reservoirs. Appraisal will be required to determine the size and commerciality of the discovery.

“The Freedom well is our third discovery in this part of the deepwater Gulf of Mexico following our Tubular Bells and Kodiak discoveries,” said Andy Inglis, BP chief executive, Exploration and Production. “This discovery further strengthens BP’s resource base and portfolio of potential development projects in the Gulf of Mexico. We believe that Freedom straddles Mississippi Canyon Block 948 and Mississippi Canyon Block 992 and we look forward to working with our various partners towards efficient development of these discovered resources.”

The well is operated by BP Exploration & Production Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of BP America Inc., with a 25 per cent working interest, and includes co-owners Noble Energy, Inc. (37.5 per cent), Samson Offshore Company (25 per cent) and Marathon Oil Company (12.5 per cent). The lease was acquired by Noble Energy and Samson Offshore at federal OCS Lease Sale 198 in March, 2006. Mississippi Canyon Block 992 is operated by BHP (32.25 per cent) with BP as co-owner (67.75 per cent).
Note to editors:

* Noble Energy has historically referred to the Freedom Prospect as Gunflint.
* BP is one of the world’s largest oil and gas companies with operations in more than 100 countries across six continents. The company’s main businesses are exploration and production of oil and gas; refining, manufacturing and marketing of oil products and petrochemicals; transportation and marketing of natural gas; and BP Alternative Energy, a growing business in renewable and low-carbon power and next generation energy technologies.