Curtis Williams
OGJ Correspondent
PORT OF SPAIN, July 26 -- Bidding is scheduled to close on Oct. 30 for eight blocks being offered in the Trinidad Deep Atlantic Area off Trinidad and Tobago. The blocks lie in 1,700-2,500 m of water (OGJ Online, Mar. 24, 2006).
Although no commercial discovery has ever been made in those deep waters, major international oil and gas companies are showing keen interest in the bids, said Helena Innis-King, director of resource management at Trinidad and Tobago's Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries.
Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Chevron Corp., British Gas PLC, Kerr-McGee Corp., and Repsol YPF SA have purchased bid packages, Innis-King said. "In addition, several large independents have also expressed an interest."
Innis-King said a consortium of BP Trinidad & Tobago, Petroles de Venezuela Sud America, and 10 other companies in 2003 paid for 2D seismic to be shot on the area.
Innis-King said Trinidad Atlantic Deep is prospective, and she expects that fields producing at least 100,000 b/d of oil would be found.
The director, who expects that the area contains much oil and gas, said it is "frontier drilling in fairly deep waters, but it is where we expect to make significant discoveries." She said, "We believe that there are big structures out there, and it is simply an issue of finding them."
