The deal also makes BP the operator of the project, giving the British oil giant… BP PLC will invest nearly $1 billion in a vast natural gas field off the coast of northwest Africa, a sign that major energy companies continue to scour the world for opportunities to pump more even as they recover from one of the worst oil and gas price crashes in decades. The agreement with exploration company Kosmos Energy Ltd. of Dallas calls for BP to pay more than $900 million in the coming years to help test the viability of the Tortue prospect in waters off Mauritania and Senegal. By some estimates, the field could hold as much as 50 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. That is enough to meet demand in the United Kingdom for about 20 years, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The deal also makes BP the operator […]