BP PLC has farmed out the majority interest of its two deepwater blocks offshore the east coast of Trinidad and Tobago to BHP Billiton Ltd., Melbourne. OGJ has confirmed that the deal was concluded just over a month ago and both companies have so far been tight lipped about it. However BP has now confirmed the deal in an e-mail response to questions from OGJ.
“BP confirms that it has completed negotiations with BHP Billiton about farming out an interest in deepwater Blocks TTDAA 14 and 23(a),” BP’s e-mail said.
BP went on to say that while the two companies had reached agreement, it was awaiting approval from Trinidad and Tobago’s Ministry of Energy and Energy Affairs. “While the two parties have reached agreement, they still await full approval of the arrangements from the Ministry of Energy and Energy Affairs,” BP told OGJ in its e-mail.
Should the deal be approved by the Caribbean twin-island nation’s government, it would mean that BHP Billiton will be the operator on all of the six deepwater blocks offered since 2011 as they have also been awarded the other four blocks that were signed in the last 2 years. BHP also has bid on two more blocks in the 2013 bid round, which is yet to be awarded.
It was in July 2011 that BP Exploration Operating Co. was awarded 100% interest and operatorship of Blocks 23(a) and TTDAA 14 offshore the east coast of Trinidad. Spanning 2,600 sq km, Block 23(a) lies in 2,000 m of water about 300 km northeast of BP’s Galeota Point onshore processing facility. The adjacent TTDAA 14 covers 1,000 sq km in similar water depths.
Trinidad and Tobago’s deep water is a frontier basin and has never been explored. All of the country’s oil and gas has been produced onshore or in shallow water on the continental shelf. BP is the island nation’s largest gas producer and Trinidad and Tobago accounts for 18% of BP’s total global production.
BHP Billiton is the operator of Angostura field. Greater Angostura field is in 36-46 m of water on the continental shelf, 37 km east of Trinidad and Tobago in the eastern Trinidadian sector of the eastern Venezuela basin.
Gross recoverable oil reserves are pegged at 90-300 million stb, with a mid-case or P50 volumes of 160 million stb.
The range of gross recoverable gas volumes is 1-2.3 tcf, with a mid-case volume of 1.75 tcf. On an oil equivalence basis, the mid-case resource is estimated at 450 million boe.
