As a division of the global BP Group, BP Trinidad and Tobago (BPTT) leads the way as the country’s largest hydrocarbon producer, providing expertise in all areas of the national energy industry. As a leader in natural gas production, the company’s operations account for roughly 55% of the nation’s total gas production. However, a crucial part of BPTT’s role across the industry is to actively develop the region towards a future that positively affects communities, the economy, and the planet.
At present BPTT has over 15 offshore production platforms that are working as part of a system to provide gas across Trinidad and Tobago. These platforms combine to establish BPTT as the region’s largest natural gas producer, which holds exploration and production licenses across 904,000 acres of land, multiple offshore platforms, and two onshore processing facilities. The vast spread of BPTT’s range across the region mirrors the global BP Group’s international reach, and BPTT believes that the key to long-range success and sustainability is to build up the local expertise around the national energy industry. It aims to do this across all aspects of the industry from oil and gas exploration, platform design and construction, and the installation of new pipelines. BPTT focuses on developing the industry specifically in Trinidad and Tobago to ensure a legacy of national energy infrastructure across the region.
One way BPTT has been expanding their operations is through the construction of its Cassia C facility, part of BPTT’s overarching Area Development Plan. The Area Development Plan has set out to develop the hydrocarbon resources in its licensed marine acreage for Trinidad and Tobago. This plan includes a combination of exploration and development projects which are focused on maximising BPTT’s production. The Cassia C facility is the first offshore compression platform for BPTT and its biggest offshore facility, which will enable the BPTT to access and produce low-pressure gas resources from the Greater Cassia Area. With an expected peak production of roughly 200-300 million standard cubic feet a day of gas, the facility is the 16th one under BPTT to help meet the region’s supply commitment and sustain Trinidad and Tobago’s LNG and petrochemical industries.
David Campbell, President of BPTT said in a press release on the facility that “First gas from Cassia C is an important milestone for BP in Trinidad and Tobago. This first offshore compression facility will allow us to unlock new resources and bring much-needed gas to market. I am immensely proud of the teams which have been working hard to bring this facility online”. Campbell’s statements come as the facility, which sits approximately 35 miles off Trinidad’s southeastern coast, will maximise the production potential of BPTT’s acreage.
BPTT recently announced the successful completion of the first phase of its “small pools” drilling campaign. The campaign, which began in October 2022, includes 3 wells in the Mango Field, one in the Savonette Field and 3 in the Angelia Field. The project is being completed by BPTT in stages, with the first phase seeing completion with all three wells put into production. The current production rate is approximately 180 million standard cubic feet a day with the third well still in the ramping up process. The project includes six side tracks to existing wells, as well as to new exploration segments which have not been used previously. This structure allows for BPTT to target smaller accumulations of gas resources which are near the existing infrastructure set up by BPTT. By targeting these smaller gas resources BPTT can access gas in a more efficient way and bring it into production at a much faster rate. Furthermore, BPTT has shown their attention to detail and developmental process through the seismic data, reprocessing, interpretation and detailed well planning across the project to help achieve its current positive results in the first phase of the project.
The next phase of the project is set to commence soon with the Joe Douglas Jack up rig, which has been contracted to deliver the drilling programme, which is currently on-site at the Savonette platform to begin on the next well of the project. BPTT President, David Campbell comments in the press release announcing the completion of the project’s first stage in the Mango Field, that it “demonstrates our continued commitment to developing resources in our existing shallow water acreage in the Columbus Basin.” He continues, “Our goal is to find and recover as much of the gas resources as we can, small or large, and particularly those that can be quickly brought into existing infrastructure. Each successful well helps to stem the declines in those more mature gas fields and contributes to our ability to meet our gas supply commitments to the NGC and Atlantic”. Consequently, as Campbell outlines, the development of the Mango Field is a crucial step in BPTT’s plans to develop the region’s gas supply infrastructure towards a future of continued success.
Overall, as we see from the ramping up of two of BPTT’s projects over the last few years it is continuously expanding its role in Trinidad and Tobago’s gas and oil industry toward a future where their facilities can efficiently provide the growing demand on natural gas resources. BPTT’s projects are set to continue to expand, especially with the completion of the “small pools” drilling campaign which is set to bring even more supply to the region whilst supporting the current infrastructure system in place across its 16+ facilities. It is clear that BPTT is only getting started, and we can see its development project expanding across the region even further to ensure that BPTT remains the pioneer of the BP Global group in Trinidad and Tobago.
