Trinidad and Tobago offers 11 blocks in latest bid round

Curtis Williams
OGJ Correspondent

PORT OF SPAIN, Aug. 31 -- Trinidad and Tobago announced the offering of 11 deepwater blocks for bid in its 2010 licensing round.

The announcement was made by the twin-island nation’s Energy Minister Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan who said the blocks lie in 400-2,000 m of water. The bid round will be open on Sept. 8.

Seepersad-Bachan said 9 of the 11 blocks are believed to be oil-prone, while the remaining 2 are thought to contain natural gas.

The energy minister noted that the companies will be entering into frontier territory since there has never been exploration on these blocks before, but she said studies had shown that the blocks could contain oil fields as large as 1.6 billion bbl and gas fields in excess of 6.5 tcf.

Trinidad and Tobago recently announced a new taxation regime for the deepwater blocks that would reduce the government’s take under the new production-sharing contracts from 83% to 71% with the petroleum profit tax being reduced to 35% (OGJ Online, Aug. 18, 2010).

Seepersad-Bachan said the decision to offer 11 deep water blocks was based on firm interests expressed by many of the world’s largest oil and gas companies. She also noted, however, that the government was not committed to any of these expression of interest since it is a competitive bid round.

She said the companies with the best bids will win the blocks and that the government had set up a clear transparent score card for the award of the potentially lucrative blocks.

The energy minister promised swift decision-making and that the negotiation process will not be long and drawn out as has occurred in the past.