bpTT plans to invest US$1.9B in exploration

bp Trinidad and Tobago plans, between 2004 and 2008, to invest (US)$1.9 billion in exploration and development activities, says Robert Riley, chairman and CEO of the company. He said the plans call for the delivery of 12 exploration wells, almost 80 development wells, including platform construction, and ground-breaking investments such as the 4-D seismic programme. Speaking at the energy conference held earlier this week at the Hilton, Riley assured delegates and observed “my commitment is to see that an ever-increasing share of this significant expenditure remains in Trinidad and Tobago.”

He said it was clear to all in the energy industry that bpTT’s gas production targets are linked to demand in the gas markets. The production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for export, was linked to Atlantic LNG Trains 1, 2, 3, and 4. In addition there was the demand in the local market for gas, which included generation of electricity, fuel for industrial plants or feedstock for the manufacture of ammonia and methanol, the proposed gas-to-liquids projects, and other plans by the Government for the development of a vibrant gas industry. Riley said bpTT’s strategic intent was to continue to grow a distinctively Trinidadian business while sustaining returns on company investment. Riley told the conference “our plan is to deliver continued production growth of nine percent per annum to the end of the decade. A good understanding of the regional geology of the Columbus Basin he said, was critical to the success of bpTT’s exploration, development and production efforts.

In 2001 he said they began welding together smaller seismic datasets, and presently the company has a 5,000 square kilometre dataset, which he said was a key enabler to help bpTT reduce its risk and uncertainty in finding hydrocarbons. This year, he revealed, bpTT will acquire an additional 1,000 square kilometres of seismic data in its eastern region acreage in support of its long-term exploration plan. The company’s allocated expense for seismic activity, he said, was approximately (US)$280 million over the next five years, of which (US)$26.5 million will be spent in 2004. Riley said the Columbus Basin was a world-class hydrocarbon resource basin still rich with opportunity. He said “we took an 18-month time-out from drilling which started in 2002 to focus our energy on further deepening our understanding of the structural and stratigraphic framework. This gives us a better picture of the prospectiveness of the entire Columbus Basin,” he added. To date he said the company has generated an initial suite of leads — 15 trillion cubic feet risked reserves, from which drilling options would be realised in 2004 to 2005.

bpTT, he said, has also identified 630 billion cubic feet of new gas to add to its resource base. He said the company’s next round of exploratory drilling will begin around the middle of this year. He saw this move as the start of a planned five-year effort of ten exploration wells of which five would be completed by the end of 2005. He also spoke of the recent discovery of being able to recover one trillion cubic feet of gas with just two wells in the Canonball Field. The well rates theoretically he said, could reach as high as 500 million standard cubic feet per day (mscfd). “This puts us in league with companies with the largest well rates in the world and therefore speaks volumes about the quality of rock in  Trinidad and the technical excellence of our geoscientists, engineering and technical personnel,” he declared.