European oil and gas giants BP PLC and Total SA announced on Monday their deepened commitment to the US market: BP PLC has approved a $5 billion offshore oil field project, while Total SA has acquired stakes in an onshore gas field.

Increased investments in US oil and gas production align with former US President Donald Trump's objectives to leverage domestic energy resources.

BP PLC currently produces approximately 2.3 million barrels of oil equivalent per day. In February this year, the company announced a strategic shift, redirecting spending from renewable energy to oil and gas sectors. Since then, its oil and gas business has become increasingly dependent on the US market.

**Expanding US Market Presence**

BP PLC has committed to raising its US oil and gas production to slightly over 1 million barrels of oil equivalent per day by the end of this decade (2030) — a scale approaching nearly half of the company's global production target for the same period (2.3-2.5 million barrels of oil equivalent per day).

BP PLC stated that its Tiber-Guadalupe project in the Gulf of Mexico involves a $5 billion investment and is expected to begin production in 2030. The project will include a floating platform with a processing capacity of 80,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, with the development area's recoverable resources estimated at 350 million barrels of oil equivalent.

Sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that BP PLC is considering selling minority stakes in the Tiber project, while also contemplating the sale of minority stakes in another wholly-owned Gulf of Mexico project, Kaskida.

BP PLC's French competitor Total SA announced on Monday its acquisition of a 49% stake in Continental Resources' onshore gas fields in Oklahoma, with the transaction amount undisclosed.

Total SA indicated that by 2030, these assets will generate approximately 150 million standard cubic feet of natural gas per day (equivalent to 26,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day). The company is currently signing agreements to primarily ship gas to Asian customers via vessels, and these gas field assets will help secure low-cost upstream natural gas resources.

Total SA is the largest buyer of US liquefied natural gas (LNG), with annual purchases of 10 million tons, but the company's own oil and gas production in the US is considerably smaller.

Last year, Total SA's upstream assets in the US produced 93,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, representing only 3.8% of its global total production, significantly lower than its production from assets in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America.

However, this situation is expected to change — Total SA is seeking to balance its US LNG purchases with domestic natural gas production, planning to achieve this goal by enhancing its own natural gas capacity in the United States.