Tag : petroleum
BHP Billiton Petroleum announced today that oil production has beensafely restored at its Neptune and Shenzi/Genghis Khan fields inthe deepwater Gulf of Mexico after Hurricane Ike caused the companyto shut in production on both fields. Production is ramping up asthe export pipelines are able to take the increasing volumes.

Natural gas from Neptune and Shenzi/Genghis Khan will be broughtonline as pipelines and infrastructure along the Gulf Coast permit.

BHP Billiton Petroleum also assessed the newly installed ShenziTension Leg Platform in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico and found nodamage that would hamper our ability to resume the constructionprocess. Shenzi is scheduled to achieve first oil by the middle ofcalendar year 2009 with a nameplate capacity of 100,000 barrels ofoil per day and 50 million cubic feet of gas per day.

The two deepwater drilling rigs under contract to BHP BillitonPetroleum, the Transocean C.R. Luigs drillship and the DevelopmentDriller I semisubmersible, are back on location and have re-startedtheir operations.

BHP Billiton Petroleum is the operator of Neptune with a 35 percentinterest. Partners include Marathon Oil Corporation (30 percent),Woodside Energy (USA) Inc. (20 percent), and Maxus (U.S.)Exploration Company (15 percent).

BHP Billiton Petroleum is the operator of Shenzi with a 44 percentinterest. Partners include Hess Corporation and Repsol YPF, eachholding a (28 percent) stake.

About BHP Billiton

BHP Billiton is the world's largest diversified resources company,with a portfolio of high-quality, long-life assets and asignificant pipeline of growth projects. BHP Billiton employsapproximately 39,000 people at more than 100 locations in 25countries across the world. BHP Billiton Petroleum is a substantialoil and gas exploration and production business. Its principalactivities are oil and natural gas exploration, development,production and marketing. For more information about BHP BillitonPetroleum go to: http://petroleum.bhpbilliton.com.

Further information on BHP Billiton can be found on our Internetsite: www.bhpbilliton.com

This document contains certain forward-looking statements relatingto the business, financial performance and results of the Companyand/or the industry in which it operates. Forward-lookingstatements concern future circumstances and results and otherstatements that are not historical facts, sometimes identified bythe words "believes", "expects", "predicts", "intends", "projects","plans", "estimates", "aims", "foresees", "anticipates", "targets",and similar expressions. The forward-looking statements, containedin this document, including assumptions, opinions and views of theCompany or cited from third party sources are solely opinions andforecasts which are uncertain and subject to risks. A multitude offactors can cause actual events to differ significantly from anyanticipated development. Neither the Company nor any of itssubsidiaries nor any of its officers or employees guarantees thatthe assumptions underlying such forward-looking statements are freefrom errors nor does any of the foregoing accept any responsibilityfor the future accuracy of the opinions expressed in this documentor the actual occurrence of the forecasted developments.