WTI Tops $100/Bbl Boosting BP Discoveries, Majors Amid US Oil Leasing Surge

WTI crude surged above $100/bbl on May 15 amid Middle East tensions, enhancing cash flows for BP's 14 discoveries since 2025—including the 8 billion-barrel Bumerangue find—and benefiting ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips' low-cost assets. This follows a week of robust US leasing: majors bid a record $163 million in March for 625 tracts across 5.5 million acres in Alaska's National Petroleum Reserve, fueling $4.5 billion Pikka (80,000 bpd imminent) and $9 billion Willow (180,000 bpd by 2029) projects amid forecasts for state output to rise from 475,000 bpd in 2024 to 750,000 bpd by 2030. BLM capped the momentum with a July 14 auction of 66 parcels (29,087 acres) in Montana and North Dakota after $593 million in Q1 federal sales.