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TRINIDAD & TOBAGO

Central America

  

The island of Trinidad lies 12 km east of the Venezuelan coastline and the much smaller Tobago is another 30 km to the northeast. Although small, Trinidad has had a long oil history, starting with the West Indies Petroleum Company, which drilled two shallow wells in 1866, while another company began distilling tar from the so-called La Brea Pitch Lake (see picture) near the coast in southwest Trinidad in 1867.

 

The first deep well was drilled in 1907 and production began in 1909 closely followed by the drilling of the first major field; Forest Reserve in 1913. The country owes its oil and gas to deposition of sediments from the South American continent into preserved rift basins south of the Antillean island arc. It is an extension of the oil rich East Venezuelan basin flanked by a continental shelf that runs southwards along the margin of South America.

 

All oil production comes from either onshore in the south of Trinidad or from shallow waters in the west and east. Gas production mostly comes from offshore the east and southeast, although new output from offshore waters to the north has begun.

 

Over the last 10 years over 20 offshore PSCs have been signed by the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries for areas in the southeast, east and north (called the South Coast Marine, East Coast Marine and North Coast Marine Areas respectively) and more are planned, especially in the deep waters to the north and east.

 

West coast: Offshore exploration began in 1954 in the Gulf of Paria, close to the oil-bearing onshore region southwest of Trinidad. Production from the Texaco-operated North Marine and East Soldado group of fields began in 1955.

 

The Brighton Marine field was discovered in 1952 with an onshore well and was brought onstream in 1958 via a 36-slot offshore platform (at the time the world’s biggest) installed 2 km from Brighton. Between 1958 and 1973 eight further platforms were installed in this field and 146 wells were drilled although around a third of the production originated from onshore wells (all now abandoned).

 

Other smaller offshore fields have also produced in the area including from a wellhead platform in the Point Ligoure block between the coast and Soldado East. The basin is now largely depleted (both onshore and onshore) with some tail-end oil production continuing from the Soldado and Brighton Marine areas and from small satellite accumulations.

 

East coast: In 1961 Amoco (now BP) began exploring offshore in the Columbus Basin south of the Darien ridge on the east (East Coast Marine). Galeota-1 produced oil but the area was considered uneconomic until a series of major oil and gas fields, 30 to 50 km from the coast, was discovered from 1968 onwards, including Teak in 1969, Samaan in 1971 and Poui in 1972.

 

Oil and gas production began from Amoco’s Teak platform in 1972. In 1973 Amoco’s Cassia gas field was discovered close to the Venezuelan border (South Coast Marine) and it began producing gas through a 60 km pipeline in 1983. By 1995 the Cassia and nearby Immortelle and Flamboyant fields were producing over 50% of the country’s gas.

 

The BG-operated Dolphin gas field, located 80 km due east of Trinidad close to the shelf edge commenced production in 1996. Dolphin supplies the Atlantic LNG plant (ALNG). In 2002 BG received approval for development of the Dolphin Deep field and Starfish fields in the same area. These are produced through upgraded Dolphin facilities via sub-sea completions and pipelines and will be the first sub-sea developments in Trinidad.

 

ALNG in Point Fortin in the south-west of Trinidad, at the heart of the old oil producing area, came into operation in 1999. Atlantic Train 1 uses 4.5 Bcm of gas to produce 3.1 million tonnes of LNG per year, which is sold to markets in the northeast United States, Puerto Rico and Spain.

 

Construction began on a 2 Train expansion project in late 2000. Train 2 commenced operations in August 2002 and Train 3 in April 2003. In June 2003, a 4th Train was approved, the largest LNG train ever constructed, coming onstream in 2006.

 

In 1999 gas was discovered at Angostura and Aripo by BHP Billiton in a new area in the Nariva sub-basin north of the Darien ridge. In 2001 two oil fields (Canteen and Kairi) in 40m of water were found in this area of East Coast Marine Block 2c, known as Angostura. The reservoirs were previously untested sandstones of Oligocene age and BHP Billiton is developing the first phase of an integrated oil and gas project.

 

New gas fields have also recently been discovered by BP in the south of the region, near to Cassia.

BP’s Kapok field has been developed with the world’s second largest natural gas processing production platform. Further south gas accumulations straddle the common maritime boundary with Venezuela (Plataforma Deltana). In 2003 a memorandum of understanding was signed with Venezuela for the unitisation of these fields, setting the framework for technical evaluation and joint development.

 

North coast (see picture): In 1970 blocks on the north coast (North Coast Marine) were licensed and gas was discovered here in 1971. However, it was not until 2001 that development of three BG-operated gas fields in water depths of around 150m (Hibiscus, Poinsettia and Chaconia), located 40 km off the coast, commenced.

 

They are being brought onstream in up to four phases to supply gas to ALNG Trains 2 and 3 expansion projects. The Hibiscus platform was installed in September 2001 and first production was in August 2002 into the newly commissioned Train 2. Phases 1 and 2 were then completed on the Hibiscus and Chaconia fields in the third quarter of 2003. Phase 3 involves drilling the Poinsettia field. Production into Train 3 started in April 2003.

 

Deepwater exploration for gas/condensate is proceeding further north and northeast.

                                                                                          

 

CAPITAL

 Port of Spain

 

Population

 1.1 million

 

Onshore area

(000's sq kms)

5.1

 

Offshore area

(000's sq kms)

NEW

 

OIL PEAK YEAR

 1978

 A low-priced and up-to-date oil and gas production and consumption forecast report on this country can be commissioned, including all relevant charts. Contact us for price and contents list.

 

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(All photographs in this website are © 2008 Dr Michael R. Smith).