The hunt for oil

With natural gas driving the economy and now in ascendancy, the oil king who once sat on the throne is slowly trying to make a comeback. During 2004, oil production decreased by nine percent, averaging 122,911 barrels of oil per day (bopd) from the previous year of 134,787 bopd, according to data from the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries. Gas sales for the country though in 2004 increased to 2.76 BCFC from 0.36 BCFD in 2003. Total gas production in 2004 was 2.93 BCFD. Total oil production from land last year averaged 24,700 bopd which reflected a two percent decrease over the 25,211 bopd achieved in 2003.

State-owned Petrotrin contributed 17,709 (72 percent) of total production in 2004 while the Lease and Farmout operations contributed approximately 5,216 bopd. Petrotrin’s land production declined from 18,410 bopd in 2003 to 17,709 bopd in 2004. Production from the Lease Operators averaged 4,100 bopd in 2004 compared to 4,082 bopd in 2003 and the production from Farmouts averaged 1,116 bopd in 2004, as compared to 839 bopd in 2003. The country is also banking on BHP’s Angostura’s field to increase overall  oil production by the end of the year. “The energy sector is expected to continue to lead the expansion as the start of crude oil production by BHP Billiton may reverse the declining trend in petroleum output,” the Central Bank said in a statement earlier this year, predicting energy-driven economic growth of the country between 6-7 percent by the end of year.

The Central Bank said production by year’s end is expected to be in the vicinity of 183,000 bopd. Increases are also expected from Petrotrin’s Trinmar Unit and from the US Independent EOG resources. Even Prime Minister Patrick Manning wants more focus on the country’s oil production which, he said,  pales in comparison to gas production. Cautioning that he did not want the country to become wholly dependent on natural gas, the prime minister said plans are in place to stimulate traditional and new oil production. Manning was optimistic that deeper explorations taking place offshore and exploration in the southern basin could yield some positive news for the country’s oil production.

“I anticipate our oil production will be subjected to a significant increase in the years to come,” Manning said noting that drilling would take place in existing oil and gas fields off the country’s East coast. “In short, we have taken appropriate steps to stimulate activities for oil  and over time what we expect is an increase in oil production, bringing our energy arrangements back in balance where we will have equal dependence on oil as on natural gas,” Manning told business executives at a recent breakfast meeting. Petrotrin’s Executive Chairman Malcolm Jones said the State-owned company is putting a lot of effort into getting its crude production up; its land production is holding up and there’s much hope for the Trinmar operations, where it is working with ExxonMobil.

“They have identified a number of possible prospects there and hopefully, some time next year, we will begin exploratory drilling. We are very happy with how the project is going and we expect to get our offshore oil production up as a result. “Right now we are producing about 35,000 barrels per day there, we think we can increase that considerably in the next couple of years,” Jones said in an interview with the London-based First magazine. Jones also thinks there’s substantial reserves under Petrotrin’s control, particularly oil. “It’s a question of moving it from one classification to another, that is from, say probable into proven. But we do believe there is a lot there and what we have to do is to increase our rate of development.”

An area that is getting more attention these days is the Southern Basin, an onshore which comprises a total acreage of some 687,000 acres. In a bid to stimulate exploration and development activity and increase the hydrocarbon reserves and production, the Ministry of Energy plans to invite Consortia to enter bids for the exploration of the southern basin onshore by the end of June. Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Energy Leroy Mayers said historically, exploration over the Basin has been carried out using relatively simple technological approaches when compared to the sophisticated techniques currently used.

“Since the acquisition of 3D seismic in limited areas onshore, the exploration success rate for wells drilled using the data has been encouraging,” he said. The ministry is of the view that the utilisation of 3D seismic would provide for a greater chance of increasing reserves and enable better reservoir management. Energy officials believe that the onshore Trinidad Basin has not been thoroughly explored. The Central Range Area is practically unexplored except for some shallow wells drilled in the first half of the 20th Century by Dominion Oil. “The ministry has decided that it is time to utilise the technology to optimise the exploration of the Southern Basin, “according to Helena Inniss-King, senior geologist in the Ministry of Energy. Two licences will be granted over the area on the basis of depth. A licence for Shallow Horizon and another for the Deeper Horizon.

There will also be a minimum equity participation of 20 percent by the State in the exploration phase. BPTT’s plans to sell off three mature oil fields to concentrate on its productive and expanding gas operations should also open up opportunities for independent producers to go after potential reserves off the south east coast fields which currently produce 21,000 barrels of oil a day. BPTT will retain deep horizon exploration rights across the 30-year-old Teak, Samaan and Poui (TSP) oil fields which reached peak production in 1977, producing 144,000 barrels of oil per day. To date, some 834 million barrels of oil have been produced from the fields. “In this case there is some 40 million barrels of oil in place still yet to be produced and there is roughly 150 million or so that might be available to be found,” said BPTT’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Robert Riley.