Curtis Williams
OGJ Correspondent
Trinidad and Tobago has announced the award of four shallow-water blocks in its 2010 shallow-water bid round.
Energy Minister Carolyn Seepersad Bachan also announced that the Caribbean twin-island nation had rejected bids from BG Trinidad & Tobago for Block 5(d) and Gulf Central for North Marine block even though BG and Gulf Central were the only bidders on those blocks.
Voyager Energy (Trinidad) Ltd. was awarded all three blocks it bid on, including Block 4(b) and NCMA 3, which Voyager won on its own, and NCMA 2, which Voyager won in partnership with RWE Dea AG.
Block 4(b) lies off Trinidad's east coast in 100-800 m of water, just east of the Dolphin and Starfish producing fields. The block is 750 sq km and was originally offered during the competitive bid round in 1995 and awarded to ConocoPhilips, which relinquished the block in 1999.
NCMA 3 covers 2,094 sq km and is in relatively shallow water (30-100 m) off Trinidad's north coast. It is south of Hibiscus, Chaconia, and Poinsietta gas fields, all now producing. Two wells have been drilled over the acreage, Alma 1 and HH6-1, with the latter testing gas.
NCMA2 is in the North Coast Marine Area off Trinidad's northern coast and west of Tobago. The block is 987 sq km in 30-100 m of water. The block is adjacent to the Chaconia and Hibiscus producing fields but has no proven hydrocarbons to date.
Centrica Energy was awarded NCMA 4. Block NCMA 4 covers 1,779 sq km and is in 30-160 m of water off Tobago's northwest coast. It is east of Hibiscus, Chaconia, and Poinsietta fields and contains two proven gas accumulations.
Director of Resource Management at the Ministry of Energy Helena Innis-King told OGJ that there were set criteria for the blocks that BGTT did not meet. She said, "While I am not in a position to say what the criteria were, the fact is that we felt that the bid did not meet our benchmark and as a result we have decided that we will not award the block but would keep the block in the Ministry of Energy where it can go out for bids sometime in the future."
Block 5(d) is lies off eastern Trinidad in 450-800 m of water. The block covers 684 sq km. There have been several discoveries of gas in adjacent blocks: the Manakin gas discovery lies to the south, and Corallita and Lantana discoveries to the west.
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