Striking gold

The Columbus Basin off Trinidad’s east coast is a gold mine for bpTT since the company, which accounts for nearly 50 percent of national crude output and close to 70 percent total gas production, gets all of its crude oil and gas from that particular basin. Speaking at the Energy Conference which ended Wednesday at the Hilton bpTT’s Chairman and CEO, Robert Riley, told delegates to the talks that bpTT’s crude and liquid condensate volumes increased by 36 percent during the years 2000 to 2003. Gas production over the same period grew from 800 million standard cubic feet daily (mmscfd) to just over 2.0 billion standard cubic feet daily.

Riley said bpTT’s gas production will continue to grow during 2004 in anticipation of the Atlantic LNG Train 4 start-up in 2005. While recognising the company’s strong performance in gas production Riley said it was very notable that during the period 2002 to 2003 bpTT took the natural decline in crude from its mature fields — Teak, Samaan and Poui fields — from a cumulative 30 percent context and reduced this to less than five percent. The reduction in decline came via additional workovers, re-completions, the application of new technology, diligence and commitment. All that he said could be summed up in local parlance as “just plain hard work.” Riley told delegates and observers that bpTT’s goal over the next five years is to keep its crude production from the Teak, Samaan and Poui fields flat, while expecting to maintain current level of production. Riley also singled out another very significant crude production milestone achieved in 2003 in the company’s Immortelle field.

Through applying the latest technology available for drilling horizontal wells the company was able to take its crude oil production to a new high of 12,000 barrels per day (bpd) — the highest volume ever attained since the start-up of the Immortelle field in 1994. Based on the required gas production volumes to meet delivery commitments and the anticipated decline in current gas fields, Riley said bpTT was committed to drilling some eight to 12 development wells per year to maintain the company’s obligations over the next 20 years and beyond. He assured that the programme was on schedule. He said the level of planned activity enabled the company to build longer-term relationships and commitments with local suppliers and service companies. By having such longer-term relationships, Riley explained, it encourages local supply companies to pre-invest in the national workforce with some certainty, thereby bringing the dimension of sustainability that, as a company, bpTT was committed to bringing to the industry. It contributes to building a sustainable workforce for the future, he emphasised. Riley also told the conference about the company’s plans to drill and or re-complete totals of 16, 26, and 18 wells over 2004, 2005, and 2006 respectively. The activity peak in 2005 he said, was in anticipation of Atlantic LNG’s Train 4 start-up. He pointed out that of the 16 wells in 2004, seven will be gas and nine will be oil. Riley also told of bpTT’s plans to continue to advance technology on all fronts with drilling/completions and seismic imaging being two of the main focus areas.

Commenting on the company’s successes in drilling and completions, he said bpTT now has nine of BP Global’s top ten producing oil and gas wells on a worldwide net basis, all of them being drilled in the last two to three years. He then told the conferene of ‘one great example’ of how bpTT’s technical personnel have gone where others have not dared in drilling technology. He spoke of the new development at the company’s Amherstia A7 well. In drilling this well he said they achieved a horizontal step out of 13,242 feet, or 2.5 miles, which was a record for Trinidad and Tobago, and bpTT. In providing his audience with a better image of the distance of drilling that well Riley said it was like starting from Fort George in St James, through Queen’s Royal College, then going horizonal and ending the well in TGI Fridays on the ground floor of the Queen’s Park Plaza. This distance he said was “quite a remarkable achievement.”  Pinpoint accurancy was needed he said, as the 2,812 foot horizontal section of the well as designed to deplete a 40-foot oil column.

Riley’s address also focussed on the company’s performance and upgrade of the infrastructure that delivers all its oil and gas production. The infrastructure at the Galeota Point base and offshore fields, he reminded, was more than 30 years old and was still performing at optimum. Speaking of shipments of crude oil and condensate, Riley reported that bpTT handled 50 super tankers last year, each tanker taking a cargo of 580,000 barrels of crude and condensate — an average of one super tanker every eight days. To think of the volume of one super tanker he explained, it’s like 1,200 gallon water trucks lined up bumper to bumper for 25 miles. Riley recalled that in 2003 bpTT invested more than (US)$40 million upgrading and refurbishing its mature assets, and expects to invest more than (US)$50 million over the next two years in order to ensure that the company can continue to operate its mature assets safely and efficiently. Last year’s expenditure, he said, covered a total of 67 upgrading and refurbishing projects. In 2004 he added, the company expects a higher level of activity, hence it was currently recruiting to strengthen its full-time engineering resources.