BP plans to add three deepwater rigs in the Gulf this year

By 2030, there will be a 40% increase in global energy demand. Not all that will be provided by oil, but the industry will have to expand from 85 million barrels per day to over 100 by 2030, said Kevin Kennelley, Vice President of Engineering and Technology for the Global Projects Organization (GPO), BP, at the recent GE Oil and Gas meeting held in Florence, Italy.

At last year's conference, BP sounded a somber note following the Macondo disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. With the lessons learned from that incident, it is heading back into deep waters with renewed vigor. While deepwater provides 7% of fossil resources today, it will grow to 10% by the end of the decade. That's why BP, with five deepwater rigs drilling now in the Gulf, will add three more this year. 

Explaining the necessity of exploiting deepwater resources, Kennelley said, "Fossil fuels aren't going away any time soon and deepwater production growth will be 6% per year between 2010 and 2020. Ultra deepwater drilling (below 1,500m) is expected to grow at 12% per year. Unlocking deepwater resources requires technological innovation and a new generation of equipment, such as pumps that will last five years on the sea bed without service and have far more power and pressure capacity than current technology." 

See March/April issue of Turbomachinery International magazine for more.