BP PLC has five offshore rigs operating in the Gulf of Mexico, which is the same number as it had before the April 2010 deepwater Macondo well blowout, a BP executive told an Apr. 30 breakfast audience at the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston. By yearend, BP expects to add three more rigs focused on exploration, appraisal, and development, said Bernard Looney, BP executive vice-president, developments. BP is investing $4 billion in the gulf this year and hopes to invest at least that much every year for the next decade, Looney said. The Macondo incident prompted a fire and explosion on Transocean Ltd.'s Deepwater Horizon semisubmersible drilling rig and a massive oil spill off Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico. In the Macondo aftermath, BP pressed ahead with its gulf exploration and development and a reinforced focus on risk management, Looney said.