Govt earns $32M overall from energy bids

THE TRINIDAD and Tobago Government, through the Ministry of Energy, earned approximately TT $3.4 million on Wednesday afternoon from a total of 18 bids placed on ten acreage blocks as the 2003 Competitive Bid Round came to a close at the Ministry’s offices at Riverside Plaza. In full, the 2003 Competitive Bid Round gained more than TT $25.5 million, as prospective bidders were required to purchase the requisite data packages on the blocks offered in order to be eligible to bid. Energy Minister Eric Williams said each company that tendered added an additional TT $189,000 to the coffers via their bid application fee. Even before the commencement of negotiations with successful bidders, he said, the Ministry was able to deposit      TT$28.9 million to Govern-ment’s consolidated fund.

“This is the fifth competitive bidding process since the Government began awarding production-sharing contracts instead of exploration and production licences utilising model production sharing contracts,” Williams said. “Each award has led to a significant exploration effort in each of the blocks awarded as well as a positive impact on the national coffers.” The Minister said Government placed great emphasis on transparency in the bidding process and he assured investors that the competitive process was fair and held no distortions. “It is for this reason, among others, that TT continues to attract the level of investment that it does,” he said. He added that the volume of bids received was evidence that exploration activity in TT would continue to thrive.

Revealing that Government had fulfilled its promise to encourage exploration activity to increase oil and gas reserves, Williams boasted that the country’s hydrocarbon reserves were growing. The proved natural gas reserves, he said, were 20.8 trillion cubic feet (Tcf), probable reserves were at 8.3 Tcf, while possible reserves were 6.1 Tcf for a total of 35.2 Tcf. Where the oil sector was concerned, he said, reserves were the highest they have ever been since the country started oil exploration in 1908. The proved oil reserves are now 990 million barrels of recoverable oil. Probable reserves now stand at 324 million barrels of oil, with possible reserves of two billion barrels for a total of 3,314 billion barrels of oil. Combined, this represented a total of 9.2 billion barrels of oil equivalent. Williams announced that bids would be submitted to a technical and overview committee for review until the award of production sharing contracts were held on or before March 10.