Congressmen urge BOEM to reject BP’s Kaskida project in US Gulf

Four Congressmen have written a letter to the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) opposing BP’s proposed Kaskida project in the US Gulf, calling the ultra-deepwater oil and gas development “an unacceptable threat to Gulf communities, ecosystems and the climate”.

The letter, dated 26 August 2025, was signed by US Representative Jared Hoffman (D-California), Ranking member of the House Committee on Natural Resources, US Representative Sarah Elfreth (D-Maryland), US Senator Edward Markey (D-Massachusetts) and US Representative Yassamin Ansari (D-Arizona), Ranking Member of the Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee.

“Approving Kaskida would not only endanger lives and the Gulf ecosystem – it would also set a dangerous precedent for a new era of ultra-deep, high-risk drilling in the Gulf,” said the four lawmakers. They cited the Deepwater Horizon incident, which resulted in the death of 11 workers, 3.2M barrels of oil spilled, and billions of dollars of environmental damage.

In 2016, BP was found responsible for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, resulting in US$20Bn in civil and criminal penalties, with a large share of these funds directed towards restoration projects in the US Gulf. Restoration projects are still ongoing in the Gulf, and the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration expects its work supporting these efforts will continue past 2031, when BP makes its final annual settlement payout.

“Fifteen years after the Deepwater Horizon disaster, we know the cost of safety shortcuts and weak oversight: workers’ lives lost, livelihoods destroyed and ecosystems scarred. BOEM has a duty to ensure that no project moves forward without meeting basic standards of safety, environmental protection and public transparency. Kaskida falls short on every front”, they said.

The legislators said, “BP’s own proposal estimates that a blowout at the Kaskida project could result in a catastrophic oil spill of up to 4.0M barrels – comparable to BP’s Deepwater Horizon disaster.

“Yet BP has not shown it has the required qualifications to operate in these conditions or necessary equipment to contain a disastrous high-pressure spill. “These deficiencies alone warrant application denial under BOEM’s own regulations”.

Kaskida will be BP’s sixth hub in the US Gulf, which will have a new floating production platform with the capacity to produce 80,000 bbl of crude oil per day from six wells in the first phase. Production is expected to start in 2029.