The British oil major discovered the Liberty field, six miles
offshore in the Beaufort Sea, in 1997 and sanctioned its
development in 2008. Production was originally due to start in
2011 and to ramp up to 40,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd). The
company planned to “make history” by drilling “the longest
extended-reach wells ever attempted”, up to eight miles out and
two miles down. BP had a rig built especially for the project
and had expanded its manmade island in the Beaufort Sea to use
as a drilling base. But it suspended work in late 2010 as it
reassessed safety after the Gulf of Mexico disaster. The company
said today that its 18-month review of rig systems, project risk
and economics and the “evolving regulatory framework” meant it
had “decided not to pursue the proposed Liberty project, in its
current form”. “We have always said that we will not proceed
with the project unless we can do it safely and meet all of our
standards. In the end, the project as currently designed does
not meet our test,” a BP