BP Commences Oil & Natural Gas Production From Atoll Field

BP plc (LON:BP) (NYSE:BP) has recently commenced production of oil and natural gas from the Atoll Phase One development, located off the coast of Egypt.

The British energy giant made the gas field discovery during March 2015. Per the company’s estimate, the prime reservoir of the project holds approximately 1.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

The British energy giant was able to start production from the Atoll field seven months before it was planned. Moreover, the company was successful in reducing the operating cost of the upstream project by 33% from its initial projection. The company’s daily oil and natural gas production from the field currently stands at 10,000 barrels and 350 million cubic feet, respectively.

Investors should know that Atoll Phase One project is the first key upstream development of BP, having initiated operations in 2018. During 2016 and 2017, BP managed to bring 13 key developments online, which already boosted the company’s daily production by more than 500,000 barrels of oil equivalent (BoE). The firm believes that all these major projects might help reach its target worth 900,000 BoE of daily new output by 2021.

In a separate announcement, BP added that countries namely Mauritania and Senegal have decided to equally split natural gas resources from the Tortue field. Per Reuters, BP is likely to make a final investment decision by 2018-end following this settlement between the two West African nations, while its partner Kosmos Energy Ltd. (NYSE:KOS) will likely take a call on the same in 2018.

Also, the company’s pricing chart looks lucrative. The firm has rallied 14.8% over the past year, outperforming the industry’s 5.1% gain.

BP carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Two better-ranked players in the energy sector are Statoil (OL:STL) ASA (NYSE:STO) and Pioneer Natural Resources Company (NYSE:PXD) , both sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Headquartered in Stavanger, Norway, Statoil is a major international integrated energy player. The company is expected to witness year-over-year earnings growth of 17.1% in 2018.

Headquartered at Irving, TX, Pioneer Natural Resources is an upstream energy firm. The company delivered an average four-quarter positive earnings surprise of 66.9%.

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