Oct. 28 (Bloomberg) -- BP Plc, Europe's second-largest oil company, started the second well at its Thunder Horse field in the Gulf of Mexico.

BP is now extracting more than 100,000 barrels day of oil and gas from the deposit after it began pumping and exporting the fuel in June from the first well at the Thunder Horse platform, the world's largest semi-submersible drilling and production facility. The company plans to have four wells open at the site by the end of 2008. The project had been delayed for about three years.

``The reservoir is performing extremely well,'' Chief Financial Officer Byron Grote told investors on a conference call today. ``We'd expect the next two wells to have a very high production rates.''

BP estimates Thunder Horse will produce 250,000 barrels of liquids and 200 million cubic feet of natural gas a day. The platform was damaged by Hurricane Dennis in July 2005, leaving it listing at a 20-degree angle. Further delays were caused by equipment failures.

London-based BP plans to bring the third well in production in November and the fourth well by the end of the year, Grote said. BP owns 75 percent of the platform, and Exxon Mobil Corp. owns the rest.

To contact the reporter on this story: Eduard Gismatullin in London at egismatullin@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 28, 2008 12:01 EDT