• Wednesday, 16 May, 2012

Angostura's big day for oil delivery

 25 February 2005 00:07 GMT

BHP Billiton will make its first shipment from the Angostura project off the north-eastern coast of Trinidad next week and is expecting to reach full production of more than 60,000 barrels per day less than two months after receiving first oil.
"We are very satisfied with a project that has an aggressive development schedule since we made the discovery in 2001," said Nigel Smith, president of BHP Billiton's Trinidad & Tobago operations.

The Angostura field has an estimated 300 million barrels of medium-light crude, plus 2 trillion cubic feet of gas, the bulk of which will be re-injected and produced at a later stage.

Smith added that the project would make three shipments in short succession and move to full output by the end of February.

BHP Billiton holds 45% equity in the project, which has opened up a new oil frontier off northeastern Trinidad, and is partnered by Total (30%) and Talisman Energy (25%).

The development includes a central processing platform and three satellite wellhead protector platforms in water depths of 40 metres.

A BHP-led consortium is also engaged in negotiations with the Trinidad authorities about the next phase of an exploration programme on the Block 2c retention area surrounding Angostura and Block 3a to the east.

Work commitments extend to one well on Block 2c and three wells on Block 3a. BHP has already drilled three exploration wells on the block, and plans for Block 3a may include an appraisal of the Puncheon discovery, which has so far been rated as non-commercial.

However, the two sides are more interested in searching for an agreement over proposals to explore deeper horizons on the block. Given the complex geology of the Angostura field, and the fact that it took a persistent appraisal effort to unearth the potential of the find, the partners, are keen to continue exploring in the area.

"We are hoping for the issues to be clarified at meetings over the next week or so, and we aim to start drilling in the second half of this year," said Smith, speaking at the sidelines of an industry conference.

BHP Billiton is also in discussions to acquire the permits for deep-water blocks 23a, 23b, in partnership with Total, and Block 24, in partnership with Talisman Energy.

Like other blocks included in a mid-2004 bidding round, the conclusion of negotiations has been delayed, which is apparently due to Trinidad's ongoing policy review of issues such as taxation and efforts to increase local content.

US independent Kerr-McGee and Canadian outfits Petro-Canada and Canadian Superior are among those waiting for a government decision.

Petro-Canada already partners BG on Trinidad's North Coast Marine development, but emerged with competitive offers for the operatorship of blocks 1a, 1b and 22 in last year's bid round.

The company is still waiting to sign up for the exploration rights on these, and sees local content as the main issue to be resolved.

"The government has publicised its framework for agreement on local content, and we agree with its ideas, but we are still waiting for some legal aspects to be clarified," said Martin Jakubowski, exploration manager for northern Latin America.

Kerr McGee echoed these concerns. "We are very keen to explore for oil and gas in Trinidad, and we think this is a great place to do business, but we are still waiting for the go-ahead," said Douglas Neese, a geological advisor with the company's exploration division.

"We thought local content was the issue but it is more than a month since the government published its broad guidelines in the media," he added.

Trinidad's Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Energy & Energy Ministries, Leroy Mayers, acknowledged that the search for the right formula to increase local content was behind the delay, but suggested that his department was now looking to assess companies' feedback following the publication of policy guidelines.

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