That the Parliament commends BP, which on 6 December 2016 announced that the company is expected to grow its North Sea operation by 200,000 barrels per day by 2020, drilling five new exploration wells and 50 new developments over the next three years; understands that this announcement comes on top of its plans to work with the Norwegian state oil company, Statoil, to drill an exploration well on the Jock Scott prospect east of Shetland in mid 2017; further welcomes the news that BP has also started drilling in the southern North Sea to test the potential of a carboniferous age horizon hundreds of metres under the Ravenspurn ST2 platform; believes that this exploration for gas in the southern North Sea could pave the way for future prospects on the UK Continental Shelf and extend the life of existing infrastructure; welcomes the words from BP's chief executive, Bob Dudley, who hailed the North Sea as one of the company’s crown jewels, and celebrates the positive impact that it considers this will have on the economy and employment prospects in Aberdeen and the wider north east of Scotland.