BP discovered a massive oil cache under the Gulf of Mexico after drilling the world’s deepest exploration well, Bloomberg reports. The discovery at Tiber Prospect may hold reserves equivalent to 3 billion barrels. In order to find it, BP engineers drilled to a total depth of 35,055 feet—taller than Mount Everest.
Although the find will take years to develop, it is expected to increase BP’s output in the Gulf by 50%, to 600,000 barrels a day after 2020. “What today’s announcement proves is that BP is a very, very successful explorer,” said an industry analyst. “They’ve opened up the whole area for discoveries.”
(More British Petroleum stories.)