Jun 2017 Financial News

BpTT celebrating 'Great moment for T&T'...we need to keep discoveries going says Christie

Jun 02, 2017

Energy Minister Franklin Khan ,left, greets BP's Chief Operating Officer, Strategy and Regions Andy Hopwood,right, as the company's upstream chief executive Bernard Looney looks on following a press conference at the Trinidad Hilton in St. Ann's, yesterday.

BP’s top exploration executive Bernard Looney said yesterday that the global energy giant’s recent work in and about T&T had given the company five reasons to celebrate.

Updating the media and local energy executives at a bpTT function at the Hilton, Looney said the five reasons are:

• the completion of the gas contract negotiations between BP and state-owned National Gas Compan;

• BP’s sanctioning of the Angelin project as a result of the completion of the gas supply negotiations;

• the safe start up of two projects Sercan II with BP’s partner EOG and the Trinidad Offshore Compression project (TROC);

• The imminent start up of the Juniper gas delivery, due by the fourth quarter of 2017; and

• BP’s discovery of commercial quantities of natural gas in its two exploration wells – Savannah and Macadamia. Those wells have unlocked approximately 2 tcf (trillion cubic feet) of gas to underpin new developments in these areas.

Regional president for bpTT, Norman Christie, said that the global energy giant plans to monetise the fields in the 2020 to 2021 timeframe and that the gas from those wells would be used for both LNG and in domestic industries, many of which are located on the Point Lisas Industrial Estate.

For the last five years, T&T’s downstream natural gas users have suffered from gas shortages as the output of established gas fields experienced natural declines.

The Juniper project is expected to add 590 million cubic feet of gas per day at its peak, which is expected to be in 2019. BP is hoping that production from Angelin replaces the natural decline of the Juniper project and that the output of Savannah and Macadamia will replace the output from the Angelin by 2021.

“What you should hear from that story is a plan to get production to a healthy level and sustain that production level for the medium to long term,” said Christie, adding that he expected bpTT to ramp up to 2 billion cubic feet of gas a day. bpTT’s average for 2017 was 1.76 billion cubic feet a day, according to the Ministry of Energy’s Consolidated Bulletin for May 2017.

Asked if the news that BP announced yesterday means that T&T’s natural gas supply issues are past the worst, Christie said: “I not say that we are past the worst forever, but we are definitely past the worst right now because we have this positive inflection point.

“It is positive news for T&T in the medium term, without a doubt. What we have to do is keep these discoveries going, so that we are past the worst for a longer period of time. By any definition this is a great moment, but it is a moment that has to be followed up with continued exploration and development.”

Questioned on Prime Minister Keith Rowley’s comment on Wednesday that the current administration would not have allowed BP to write off 100 per cent of its capital expenditure in any one year, as the previous administration had done, Christie said the energy giant recognises that it works with successive governments over time.

“As you progress over time, you would consider decisions that were fine at one point are not necessarily fine at another point. But that’s what the country’s democracy is about: doing the best for T&T,” said Christie.

More details

The Savannah exploration well was drilled into an untested fault block east of the Juniper field in water depths of over 500 feet, approximately 80 kilometres off the south-east coast of Trinidad. The well was drilled using a semi-submersible rig and penetrated hydrocarbon-bearing reservoirs in two main intervals with approximately 650 feet net pay. Based on the success of the Savannah well, bpTT expects to develop these reservoirs via future tieback to the Juniper platform that is due to come online mid-2017.

The Macadamia well was drilled to test exploration and appraisal segments below the existing SEQB discovery which sits 10 kilometres south of the producing Cashima field. The well penetrated hydrocarbon-bearing reservoirs in seven intervals with approximately 600 feet net pay. Combined with the shallow SEQB gas reservoirs, the Macadamia discovery is expected to support a new platform within the post-2020 timeframe.

“This is exciting news for both BPTT and the industry, as these discoveries are the start of a rejuvenated exploration program on the Trinidad shelf,” said . “We are starting to see the benefits of the significant investment we have made in seismic processing and Ocean Bottom Seismic acquisition. Savannah and Macadamia demonstrate that with the right technology we can continue to uncover the full potential of the Columbus Basin. This is a testament to BPTT’s ongoing commitment to the development of our Trinidad and Tobago operations and the wider industry, and we look forward to the future portfolio drill-out.”

BP Trinidad and Tobago has a 100 per cent working interest in Savannah and Macadamia.

 

Source:
Trinidad Guardian
Friday June 2, 2017

http://www.guardian.co.tt/business/2017-06-02/bptt-celebrating-%E2%80%98great-moment-tt%E2%80%99