Having released its 2004 trading statement, BP has indicated that it narrowly missed its oil production target for the year. The British energy giant also reported that it had started construction of a new wind farm complex at its facility in Amsterdam.
In fourth quarter figures BP achieved a ten percent rise in production output in 2004 compared to the previous year but it narrowly missed its target of four million barrels of oil equivalent per day.
Despite delivering strong production in the final quarter, around 4,090 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed), up by some 4% from 3,936 million boed in 4Q’03, and over 4% higher than 3Q’04 production of 3,906mboed, BP fell a few thousand barrels short for its year long goal by achieving 3.995 million boed for the year.
Meanwhile, the company has announced that it has begun construction of a 9-megawatt wind farm at its oil terminal in the port of Amsterdam, Netherlands. The project will have capacity to provide sufficient electricity for some 5,000 Dutch homes and displace 5,000 tons of carbon dioxide. It is due to be completed in the first half of 2005.
The Amsterdam wind project will consist of three wind turbines supplied by Vestas, one of the world’s leading manufactures of wind turbines. Each turbine will be capable of generating 3-megawatt of electricity, the largest to be ordered for the Dutch market. The electricity will be sold into the Dutch grid.
Eric Bakker, BP’s director of Wind Energy, said: This project is a good example of BP’s wind strategy which is to focus on brownfield opportunities on our own operational sites. This enables us to lower environmental impact and to make good use of land already being used for industrial purposes.