An audit of Trinidad and Tobago’s oil and condensate reserves shows that the Caribbean twin-island nation has 508.4 million bbl of proved, probable, and possible (3P) reserves.
The audit, which was conducted by Netherland Sewell & Associates, Dallas, was only recently made public by Trinidad and Tobago’s Ministry of Energy and Energy Affairs.
According to the report, the country holds reserves of 199.5 million bbl (proved), 85.5 million bbl (probable), and 124.8 million bbl (possible) for a combined 3P total of 409.8 million bbl.
When considering condensates, the report found reserves totaled 98.7 million bbl (24.5 million bbl proved, 43.5 million bbl probable, and 38.8 million bbl possible).
Energy Minister Kevin Ramnarine told the Energy Chamber’s annual conference at the Hyatt Regency in Port of Spain that the auditors also found that the country had almost another 1 billion bbl of prospective oil resources (essentially undiscovered, but with strong leads).
Ramnarine said, “The high estimate of prospective resources of crude oil in 2011 based on the Dec. 31, 2011, report was 924.5 million bbl of crude.”
Ramnarine noted that the audit does not include the deep water or three recently signed licenses for onshore blocks.
The minister also revealed that BHP Billiton Ltd. and partner BP PLC will drill their first well in Trinidad and Tobago’s deep water in 2016, adding that the recent decline in world oil prices would not have an effect on the companies’ decision to move ahead. He said the decision to proceed with the exploration followed the acquisition of significant amounts of seismic data, which will be processed this year.
