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Oil and gas

A resilient oil and gas business is an essential part of our transformation to an integrated energy company

The world wants and needs an energy system that’s secure, affordable and – increasingly – lower carbon. We want to play our part. That’s why we are investing in lower carbon energy and investing in oil and gas.  

 

We believe doing both is how we most effectively support the transition to a better, more balanced global energy system.   

 

The Ukraine crisis has shown our energy system to be fragile. A disruption to around just 3% of the world’s gas supply led to a sevenfold increase in the gas price, and a cost-of-living crisis for many economies.  

 

The world cannot simply ‘switch off’ the existing system before it has built the new. The transition has to be orderly, so that supply keeps pace with demand – and, at the same time, it has to be rapid, so that it stays in line with the Paris Agreement.   

 

Achieving this requires huge investment in lower carbon energy. And it requires ongoing investment in oil and gas. 

On this page
Why bp is investing in oil and gas
Our oil and gas business
Net zero by 2050 or sooner
How we’re preparing for tomorrow
Energy for today and tomorrow
Oil and gas news and stories

Why bp is investing in oil and gas

Oil and gas supply about 55% of the world’s energy.1  The world consumes around 100 million barrels of oil a day, and around 4,000 billion cubic metres of natural gas a year.2 It’s energy that keeps the lights on, gets us from A to B, and heats our homes.   

 

Without continued investment, oil and gas production would fall suddenly, not gradually. Faster than the world can build lower carbon alternatives. 

 

Further investment in oil and gas, therefore, helps to meet the world’s growing energy consumption. And it can help to fund the transition to lower carbon energy as well.  

 

That’s certainly the case for integrated energy companies like bp, where we are investing in low carbon energy AND, not OR, oil and gas. 

 

1Source: Energy Institute
2Source: Statistical Review of World Energy
Gordon Birrell, EVP, production & operations
“We are investing in the safe production of oil and gas. And we’re investing in lower carbon energy. That’s how we are playing our part in supplying the energy the world demands today, while helping to create a better, more balanced energy system for tomorrow.” Gordon Birrell, executive vice president, production & operations

And,
not or.

The world's transition to a more secure, more affordable, lower carbon energy system needs massive investment in lower carbon energies AND continued investment in oil and gas as the alternatives grow. We're transforming bp to play our part – discover more below

Our transformation

Our oil and gas business 

We have oil and gas operations and interests in many countries around the world – offshore and onshore. And our six refineries in the US and Europe are producing essential transport fuels and other products for everyday life. 

How we’re working to make oil and gas production better

Keeping energy flowing

We’ve started up four major projects in 2023 – Mad Dog 2 (our new Argos platform) in the Gulf of Mexico, KG D6 MJ in India, Tangguh Expansion in Indonesia, and Seagull in the UK North Sea

Boosting gas supply

The new Train 3 at our Tangguh liquefied natural gas operations means the expanded facility is expected to account for more than a third of Indonesia’s gas production

Gulf of Mexico renewal

Our deepwater Kaskida project is now at concept selection, thanks to technology advances since we first discovered the field

More efficient production

Our new Azeri Central East (ACE) platform in the Caspian Sea will be controlled remotely, helping to reduce travel and outages, and to lower flaring and emissions

Reimagining refining

In addition to supplying conventional fuels and industrial products, we’re starting a trial at our Lingen refinery in Germany using Carinata seed oil for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production

Reducing emissions

In the US, bpx energy met its 2023 target to electrify 95% of its operated wells in the Permian

Net zero by 2050 or sooner 

To help meet bp’s ambition to be a net zero company by 2050 or sooner, we’re working hard to reduce emissions from our operations. 

bp’s Aim 1 is to achieve net zero operations by 2050. Compared to 2019, we’ve reduced emissions from our operations by 41% and we’re aiming for a 50% reduction by 2030 against our 2019 baseline.

Find out more about our safety performance and action towards net zero in our Sustainability Report.

Our Aim 4 is about enhancing methane measurement and reducing methane intensity. We successfully achieved our aim to complete deployment of our methane measurement approach1 at all our in-scope major oil and gas processing sites by the end of 2023. We’ve already decreased methane intensity to less than half its previous value from its 2019 baseline2 – from 0.14% to 0.05%3. 

 

1bp’s measurement approach is aligned with the Oil and Gas Methane Partnership (OGMP2.0) Level 4 source level guidance.   
2 bp net zero ambition progress update.
3Figures calculated using existing methodologies. While this reduction shows progress in reducing methane emissions, it does not directly correlate to progress towards meeting the 2025 target of methane intensity of 0.20% using our measurement approach.

How we’re preparing for tomorrow

At our Tangguh operations in Indonesia, bp and our partners are working on developing a carbon capture and storage (CCS) project to capture the CO2 released from gas extraction and inject it into an underground reservoir where it can be safely stored. The planned CCUS project expects to capture 30 million tonnes of CO2 over the life of the field.


We are evolving several of our refineries to create ‘integrated energy hubs’, enabling them to continue to supply essential products such as petrol and diesel, while also integrating bioenergy feedstocks and hydrogen. 

Ewan Drummond, VP Global Projects, BP
“The world wants and needs a better and more balanced energy system that delivers secure, affordable and lower carbon energy. And the transition needs to be orderly. Our oil and gas operations have a fundamental role to play in supporting this transition.” Ewan Drummond, senior vice president of projects
Ewan talks to Energy in focus magazine about how bp’s oil and gas business is helping to support the energy transition and securing energy for today’s needs.
Read his interview

Energy for today and tomorrow

See how we are turning plans into action, working towards providing more energy for the world that’s secure and increasingly lower carbon

Electrifying operations

Our onshore bpx energy operations in Texas just got a lot quieter. That’s because we’re switching on natural gas wells powered by clean electricity. We’re well on our way to our goal of 95% electrification in our Permian basin operations by the end of 2023. 

India’s deepwater gas project

bp and Reliance Industries have begun production at the third of three major gas projects that together contribute to meeting about 15% of all the gas needed to help power India’s homes and businesses. MJ came online in 2023 and its eight wells are a feat of engineering. They are drilled in depths up to 1,100 metres – that’s a depth greater than the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa. Watch this film to find out more about all three projects.

“Whichever scenario you look at, we still need oil and gas in our system. We also need carbon capture in that system. We need hydrogen. And we need electrification.” Ann Davies, senior vice president of wells
Ann Davies joins Simon Brewer on the Money Maze podcast to discuss the energy system of the future and how companies like bp are helping to build an energy system that is secure, affordable and balanced.
Watch the podcast
“We know our number one priority is to redefine our refineries into integrated energy hubs – we will leverage our existing hydrocarbon base while building on co-processing, SAF opportunities and leveraging hydrogen to reduce emissions.” Amber Russell, SVP refining, terminals and pipelines
Amber Russell joins CERAWeek to discuss ‘Downstream strategies: Adapting to a shifting demand landscape’. 

Watch the full panel discussion

Find out more on the future of refining pdf / 10.7 MB

The outlook for natural gas demand depends on the speed of the energy transition

The prospects for natural gas are shaped by two significant but opposing trends: increasing demand in emerging economies as they grow and industrialize, offset by a shift away from natural gas to greater electrification and lower carbon fuels as the world decarbonizes. The net impact of these two opposing forces depends on the speed of the energy transition.

Oil and gas news and stories

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