BHP Billiton approves $2.2 billion for U.S. Mad Dog oil project

BHP Billiton on Thursday approved its $2.2 billion (1.7 billion pounds) share of investment for the second phase of the Mad Dog oilfield in the Gulf of Mexico, as expected. Mad Dog is operated by BP Plc , which said in December it would go ahead with Phase 2 in the Green Canyon deepwater area, building a new floating production facility with a capacity of 140,000 gross barrels of crude oil per day.