Another Titan of the deep is Atlantis, one of the largest deepwater gas discoveries made to date. BP Exploration & Production, Inc. (BP) is the operator of this field along with a partner, BHP Billiton Petroleum Deepwater. This field is projected to go into production in late 2006, with a production life of approximately 15 years.

The field was discovered in 1998 and is located about 130 miles from the coastline of Louisiana in 6,500 feet of water. The projected production capacity for Atlantis is enormous: 150,000 barrels of oil per day and 180 million cubic feet of gas each day!

A new deepwater innovation solves the problem of how to get oil and gas from platforms located far from the nearest pipeline. Atlantis will be served by a new transportation system designed to carry the oil and gas to its destination. When the system’s construction is completed in 2006, it will be the largest, highest capacity, deepwater pipeline system in the world.

The Minerals Management Service (MMS) estimates that, by 2006, oil production from both deepwater and shallow water in the GOM will be over 2 million barrels a day...a huge boost to the domestic energy supply of the Nation.

The MMS works with industry to make sure new facilities such as Atlantis produce abundant energy for the Nation from domestic sources while protecting the environment and making sure taxpayers get a fair price for Federal land leases.