The Right Alignment

If BHP Billiton gets the business opportunity to monetise its reserves through  in the Atlantic LNG (ALNG) Trains, the company will seriously consider it. In fact, Geoffrey Ferreira, General Manager (Trinidad and Tobago), BHP Billiton said they will align themselves with any project that brings value to the company and to TT. “We have a production sharing contract with the Government, so therefore they also have a very keen interest to monetise their profits. “We all know that  ALNG provides the exportation and monetisation of these reserves and so we would clearly like to be a part of that.” Additionally, he said if at some time there are opportunities in the downstream business, such as in aluminum, BHP would also like to be a part of that since it is is a mineral-based company.

He said he has spent most of his life in the energy sector doing human resources, re-engineering and organisational development. “I had an opportunity to work in the Denver region for Amoco and also in Houston on a specific re-engineering natural gas business between 1992 and 1994.” When he returned in 1994, he took up the position of vice-president, human resources at bpTT, then he was offered the position of general manager, human resources, BHP. “I have been involved in this industry for some time and bpTT is the only other employer I had the opportunity to work for,” he said. Ferreira said he left bpTT because BHP presented him with an exciting opportunity to work in a ‘green field’ operation, something virgin and unexplored. “This opportunity really created a lot more space to have more autonomy to develop a new company that will have more of my own finger prints around.”

BHP, he believes, creates a whole new opportunity for creating wealth in TT and also for its companies and shareholders. BHP has been in TT for about six years now and during that short space of time, the company engaged in an exploration effort that ended with a major discovery in the Angostura Field located in Block 2 © offshore TT. Ferreira explained that this exploration effort was a success because it discovered hydrocarbons in areas that other companies had explored before. “It has created a new gateway of opportunities, exploration opportunities, not only for us but all those who would bid into future blocks in and around this,” he said. While BHP Billiton is the operator of the Greater Angostura development, it has entered into joint venture agreement with TotalfinaElf and Talisman Energy.

With this energy find, Ferreira said he wants to create a legacy, one that will be here to stay for many generations to come. BHP’s discovery, he said, had a life span of at least 25 years and the company is also going to start exploration in a block adjacent to 2 (c),  - Block 3 (a). BHP expects to build up at least six exploration wells to drill in 3 (a) within the next year and a half. “So the foot print of this company is yet to be developed and with the exploration success and excellence we have as a company, we are confident that we will find more hydrocarbons.” He said while BHP is a relatively small player in the energy industry worldwide as well as in TT, he is sure that the company will become a very big part of the industry in TT. “Relatively speaking, we are a small player globally in energy. We are the 10th biggest oil company in the world, but we are the number one mineral company.”

He noted that in TT, BHP’s well 2 (c), is going to produce anywhere between 75,000 and 80,000 barrels of oil per day. He said 2 (c), will be their largest operating asset when they do get to operate it, which should happen by the end of next year when they bring first oil to shore. While BHP’s major find to date has been oil, Ferreira said they do have a tranche of gas, about 1.7 tcf, which he is sure that TT would like to purchase. Additionally, he said while BHP is a mineral based organisation, and is the number one company when it comes to aluminum, copper, diamonds and other special products, petroleum produces about 30 percent of its earnings before interest and taxes. Even though Ferreira, has spent all of his life in the energy sector, he firmly believes that TT should diversify its economy. “The oil and gas business globally is a cyclical business and there will be times when it will put pressure on an economy, when they are basing their future look on certain prices of oil, that over time, will not be what it is today,” is how he put it.

Diversity in an economy, he said, will clearly strengthen its capability to be flexible and add stablity when oil prices dip. “I think that diversifying the economy is something that we should be doing and I think that there has been movement in that direction.” He also thinks that the future of oil and gas in TT is very “upbeat.” He said BHP has created an opportunity for more exploration and a renewal of interest particularly in the Angostura field, which, he said, can create more discoveries. Ferreira also addressed the issue of the limited supply of locally skilled workers available to the energy industry. “It is a fact that there is a lack of experienced, mature and skilled workers in the energy sector and which BHP will be requiring in the near future.” He applauded moves by the National Energy Skills Centre (NESC) and the Trinidad and Tobago Institute of Technology (TTIT) which have been trying to help fill that gap in the sector.

Ferreira said BHP is also trying to help train young people to work in the energy industry. In fact, BHP has already tapped into the TTIT and are going to employ ten young technicians, inexperienced by and large, and are going to give them an opportunity to be exposed to two of their operating assets in the United Kingdom (UK). “It is a very exciting opportunity for these ten young men. They have already been selected and we are now in the process of finalising the arrangements.” These young recruits will be at BHP’s operating assets for at least nine months and will return to TT to continue their training. Apart from his work at BHP, Ferreira is a family man with four children. He is also a very avid swimmer. “My passion is really competitive swimming and I still actually compete.” Ferreira was actually the first Trinidadian to compete in an Olympics for TT. He competed in two Olympics - in 1996 in Mexico and in 1972 in Germany. Additionally, he said, BHP is going to have a positive effect on TT and will leave something behind so that the company will be remembered for its creation of employment opportunities and skills development, which never existed here before.