By an OGJ correspondent
PORT OF SPAIN, Apr. 21 BHP Billiton Ltd., Melbourne, said it plans to drill two wells in Block 3a off Trinidad's East Coast despite having acquired only 600 sq km of the 1,000 sq km of 3D seismic survey data it had planned prior to the sinking of the M.V. CGG Mistral seismic research vessel in December. The company also is processing data from 3D and 2D seismic that previous block owners had shot (OGJ Online, Mar. 12, 2003).
"We have six wells to drill and we want to get full coverage of that block so that we select the best prospects to drill," the company's resident manager for Trinidad and Tobago operations, Nicholas de Verteuil, told OGJ Online.
He said drilling the two wells now also depends on the availability of the Cantalisa platform jack up, which will drill developmental wells in early May in Block 2c where 300 million bbl of oil and up to 2.3 tcf of gas were discovered. De Verteuil said natural gas in Block 2c might be brought on stream earlier than expected.
Block 3a wells will be drilled back to back in the Greater Angostura project during May-October to meet a December 2004 deadline.
"When we start to produce crude in the Kairie and Canteen portion of the structure we want to monitor the gas pressures in the western end of the field to see if there is any communication between the eastern and western end of the structure. If there is no communication over time and there is only actual production data, then we will know that the gas-rich portion of the structure is not hydraulically connected to the oil rich portion of the structure and then we can possibly start commercializing the gas earlier," De Verteuil said.
He said because of the existence of major oil and gas fields, the wellhead protector platform that is being installed in 2c will have "the functionality to drill gas wells from it in Phase II of the field's development.
BHP is operator with a 30% stake in the 150,000 acre Block 3a and its partners are BG Group PLC and Talisman, 30% each, and TotalFinaElf 10%.