London-based BP Plc said it had made a “giant” oil discovery in the Gulf of Mexico, reaffirming the area's importance to Western oil majors who are increasingly barred from investing in the world's richest oil prospects. BP said in a statement on Wednesday that it had made the find at its Tiber Prospect in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. The well was drilled in Keathley Canyon block 102. Further appraisal will be required to ascertain the volumes of oil present, BP said, but a spokesman said the find could be bigger than its Kaskida discovery which has over 3 billion barrels of oil in place. BP, the biggest oil producer in the US and biggest leaseholder in the Gulf of Mexico, has a 62 percent working interest in the block while Brazilian state-controlled Petrobras owns 20 percent and US oil major ConocoPhillips owns 18 percent. “These material discoveries together with our industry leading acreage position support the continuing growth of our deepwater Gulf of Mexico business into the second half of the next decade,” said Andy Inglis, BP's head of Exploration and Production. The find highlights the potential in the Gulf of Mexico and bodes well for other exploration in the area, including at Royal Dutch Shell Plc's Great White field, Jason Kenny, oil analyst at ING in Edinburgh, said. The Gulf of Mexico is especially attractive because it offers high profit margins. As nearer-shore discoveries dry up, companies have pushed further out to sea, which has forced them to develop new technologies to detect and extract the oil.
