BP still aims to take a final investment decision this year on its huge Kaskida development in the US Gulf of Mexico, although chief executive Murray Auchincloss warned that the project’s key challenge is to secure fabrication capacity.

Kaskida — one of many BP discoveries in what is known as the Palaeogene play — is set to be exploited via a semi-submersible production unit able to handle 80,000 barrel per day of oil and 25 million cubic feet of gas.