Trinidad and Tobago’s state Petrotrin LLC said appraisal drilling in cluster 6 of Southwest Soldado field onshore Trinidad has confirmed the existence of a minimum of 48 million bbl of oil.
Four of five appraisal wells found light crude oil unexpectedly as well as heavy oil, said Lindsay Gillette, chairman. The crudes may be mixed to optimize recovery, Gillette said.
The wells, in 60 ft of water off Point Fortin and near the Atlantic LNG liquefaction plant and close to oil production facilities, flowed at an average of 700 b/d.
Petrotrin said the Southwest Soldado discovery is the second with which it has been involved in the last 3 months. The first was the discovery by Bayfield Energy of 32 million bbl of recoverable oil in its first well on the Galeota block.
The Bayfield well, suspended as an oil and gas discovery, went to 2,479 m and found light oil in a good- quality reservoir with production potential of more than 1,000 b/d. Petrotrin, which owns 35% of the Galeota block, and the Southwest Soldado and Galeota discoveries mean a combined estimated delivery of 80 million bbl of oil.
