Trinidad and Tobago wins four deepwater oil and natural gas blocks
The auction of deepwater exploration and production blocks for oil and gas in Trinidad and Tobago failed to attract much interest from foreign investors. Only four out of 26 areas were offered.
Trinidad's Ministry of Energy announced that the bidding round ended on Wednesday. The Chinese company CNOOC bid for three blocks and a group of smaller energy companies for another.
Ernesto Kesar, Trinidad's junior energy minister, stated that with several auctions taking place in Latin America and a limited pool of deepwater energy companies, Trinidad has a realistic view of the difficulties of obtaining significant bids.
The Caribbean twin-island country, Latin America’s largest exporter liquefied gas, is pushing offshore producers to increase natural gas production so that it can maximize its gas processing and export capacity.
The auction included blocks bordering Venezuela, Guyana and the United States. It followed a separate agreement between Exxon Mobil and the U.S. Oil Major that would allow it to explore an area the size of seven ultra-deepwater block and bring up to $21.7 billion in revenue to the country, if reserves were found.
The auction, which was initially scheduled to end on July 2, was postponed to September when Trinidad's Energy Ministry said that potential bidders would need more time to evaluate the data.
Trinidad currently has no production from its deepwater land. Woodside Energy, however, is looking at the possibility of developing its Calypso discovery. BP and Shell recently completed seismic surveys on three deepwater blocks.
Geologically, Trinidad's ultra-deepwater and deepwater plays may have different formations. Curtis Williams is reporting.
(source: Reuters)
