April 13 (UPI) -- British energy company BP said Thursday it started producing oil from a deepwater field in the Gulf of Mexico, part of a strategy to pull nearly a half million barrels per day from the region. Argus is situated about 190 miles off the coast of New Orleans, with the platform tapping reserves some 4,500 feet below the surface. This is the fifth production platform for BP and its first new one to come online in the region since 2008, two years before the Deepwater Horizon oil