Curtis Williams
OGJ Correspondent
PORT OF SPAIN, Feb. 15 -- Trinidad and Tobago will offer five shallow-water blocks for competitive bidding in the third quarter.
The twin-island nation's newly appointed Minister of Energy and Energy Industries Conrad Enill said the blocks are all gas-prone and lie off the islands' east and north coasts.
In the past, there have been massive gas finds off the east and north coasts. BG Trinidad & Tobago recently announced that its Dolphin field off the east coast, which initially was thought to have contained 1 tcf of gas, has been reappraised and is now believed to hold 4.5 tcf of gas.
Enill also reported that the government would put out bid requests for deepwater blocks in 2009 after it acquires additional data. A consultant has been hired to review relevant issues and develop a special fiscal regime for downstream projects. It will review:
-- Fiscal incentives for deepwater exploration.
-- Supplemental petroleum taxes for small petroleum operators.
-- Incentives for marginal or small fields, drilling activities, enhanced oil recovery, and heavy oil.
-- The Structure of petroleum-sharing contracts.
-- A taxation regime for downstream projects.
In a wide-ranging address, Enill also announced that soon another natural gas audit will be conducted and is expected to be completed by yearend. He promised there would be annual audits of the country's oil and gas.
The minister added that the audit would include not just the country's conventional oil reserves but also its heavy oil reserves, thought to be more than 1 billion bbl.
Enill said current high oil prices have resulted in renewed interest in heavy oil, and the government wants to explore the possibility of producing it.
