(Kevin Ramnarine, Strategic Energy Adviser). Former Minister of Energy. Business School Lecturer. International Speaker, 3.Jan.2018) – This is a summary of upstream activity for Trinidad and Tobago in 2018.
1) Rowan will have 4 rigs drilling in 2018. By June 2018 all four will be working simultaneously. Two of these will be with BP, one with EOG and one with Shell. Good luck Rowan.
2) BHP Billiton resumes exploration drilling in Deepwater using the Transocean Invictus. This drilling is related to Production Sharing Contracts signed between 2013 and 2014. A lot of fingers are crossed.
3) Shell does the Starfish Infill Drilling (SID) project, which sees Shell try to tap the reserves of Starfish. They are using a Mearesk Semi Submersible for this. Good luck Shell.
4) DeNovo will have first gas from the Iguana field by Q2 2018. This will make DeNovo, Trinidad’s fifth natural gas supplier. Positive news indeed.
5) BP will be drilling wells for the Angelin project for which first gas is Q1 2019. Sadly we lost the platform in 2017 but the project is on schedule. Angelin became more prospective after the 3D seismic Ocean Botton Cable (OBC) survey of 2012 to 2013.
6) The economy will benefit from a full year of BP Juniper production and this will cause positive economic growth for the first time in 3 years. Congrats to all involved in this very historic project.
7) Work will start on the fabrication of the BP Cassia C compression platform. Hopefully some of this will be done at La Brea.
8) BP will be doing infill drilling on Cannonball and Cashima in 2018.
9) Lease Operators Limited (LOL) will be drilling exploration wells in their Rio Claro Land Block. That block was awarded in 2014. We expect at least 2 exploration wells in 2018 in this block. Maybe we will have an oil discovery on land for the first time since Carapal Ridge (many years ago).
Editor’s Note: Kevin Ramnarine is a strategic energy adviser and the former Trinidad and Tobago Minister of Energy. He is also a business school lecturer and international speaker.
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