BPTT adds to reserves at Angelin offshore Trinidad and Tobago

March 24, 2014
BP Trinidad & Tobago's (BPTT) Ocean Bottom Cable Seismic (OBCS) has already added significant proved reserves to its Angelin gas discovery in 80 m of water offshore the east coast of Trinidad and Tobago, the company said.

BP Trinidad & Tobago's (BPTT) Ocean Bottom Cable Seismic (OBCS) has already added significant proved reserves to its Angelin gas discovery in 80 m of water offshore the east coast of Trinidad and Tobago, the company said.

Angelin's original estimates were just shy of 1.5 tcf of natural gas and, according to BPTT, the use of OBCS along with technology it has never used outside of a test environment have led to adjustments to the field's proved reserves.

BPTT said, "The OBCS used Independent Simultaneous Source (ISS) technology. This represented the first time that BP used ISS technology outside of a test environment. ISS uses multiple vessels to collect data, making the process more complex but with the potential for improved seismic imaging."

BPTT told OGJ that it has already begun to process the data acquired through the survey and the early fast-track processed data has seen huge uplift in the imaging of the Columbus basin.

BPTT Vice-Pres. (Operations) Andre Celestine told OGJ, "Better definition of reflectors, faults, and imaging deep and below shallow gas have all been part of the significant uplift. These new data have already resulted in significant additions to proved reserves in Angelin field and is allowing BPTT to progress the field into our projects organization to plan a development."

The Columbus basin is a prolific oil and gas province with more than 1 billion bbl of light, sweet crude already produced from it and BPTT is estimated to have more than 13 tcf of proved reserves in the Columbus basin, having already produced more than 8 tcf of gas from the basin.

Celestine said the survey has attracted interest throughout BP because of the technology being used and the quality of the data.

He said, "The approach used by the Trinidad and Tobago business would help BP to plan and carry out similar surveys in its other operating areas."

Celestine also revealed that BPTT is in the final stages of determining if to develop Juniper field in the Columbus basin.

He said if approved, the 1-tcf field will involve development of the Corallita and Lantana fields via five new wells, drilled and completed by a fourth generation semisubmersible rig, and tied back to a normally unmanned platform.

BPTT also announced that if approved the platform for Juniper will be constructed in Trinidad and Tobago rather than in Louisiana.

BPTT told OGJ, "Juniper is currently still in the stages of the internal BP approval process. We prefer to fully complete this exercise prior to sharing any details of the project. We do expect however that where approval is granted construction should begin at TOFCO [Trinidad Offshore Fabrication Unlimited] in and about fourth-quarter 2014."

In the last 8 years, BPTT has constructed five platforms for its Trinidad and Tobago operations and they have all been built in the Caribbean twin-island nation.