- “This year has felt like a turning point," BP CEO Bob Dudley tells Financial Times, following $62B in fines and settlements related to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. "It feels like we are now dealing with the same problems that everyone else has."
- Recovery has been aided by a partial recovery in crude oil prices and surging production from seven oil and gas projects brought on stream this year, one of the highest start-up rates in the company's history; the latest, the Zohr gas field offshore Egypt that's 10% owned by BP (LON:BP), began producing this week.
- Production of ~3.6M boe/day remains below the 4M peak before the Deepwater Horizon disaster, but the rush of project start-ups has increased output by 14% this year, with the company forecasting growth to continue at 5%/year until 2021 as further developments are completed.
- BP's unit production costs have fallen 40% since 2013, bringing the company’s break-even point down to just under $50/bbl, excluding residual Deepwater Horizon costs.
- Dudley also defends BP's 19.75% interest in Russia's Rosneft, saying the country is worth the risks since "it is one of the lowest-cost resource nations of the world."
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Original article