|
The
country’s current production when converted to barrel of oil equivalent
puts our oil production in a one to eight relationship, an imbalance
that the Ministry of Energy Industries together with Petrotrin is
working to address.
In an
address at a signing ceremony between Petrotrin and five local
contractors for seven of its onshore eastern blocks on October 29th,
2009, Minister of Energy and Energy Industries Senator Conrad Enill
noted that the Company had the ability to increase oil production in the
short to medium term.
“We are in
this process selecting E&P players and approaches to properly evaluate,
discover and extract maximum value from the sector…,” he said.
“Petrotrin, through its land and Trinmar assets, controls approximately
75% of the country’s oil reserves. These reserves I am advised are
within easy reach and with oil production on the decline… Petrotrin has
the ability to increase oil production in the short to medium term.”
This drive
to significantly boost oil production was the driving factor behind
Petrotrin’s leasing of seven fields in its onshore eastern blocks. On
Wednesday October 28th, 2009, five local contractors signed
ten-year sub-licence agreements for the fields Innis Trinity, Moruga
East, Goudron, Catshill, Beach-Marcelle, Navette and Balata East- all of
which are located roughly between Princes Town and Mayaro and as far
south as Moruga to Guayaguayare.
Minister
Enill stated that since 2004 the Ministry of Energy and Energy
Industries had embarked on an extensive strategy to stimulate
exploration in the southern basin onshore Trinidad. This included a
process of lease regularisation which allowed for security of tenure,
thus encouraging investment. Petrotrin was also awarded new licences for
its core productive acreage while the remaining land area in the
southern basin was offered in a round of Competitive Bidding.
Petrotrin
originally operated 54 state licences in the Southern Basin of Trinidad.
“These
licences were difficult to administer administratively and to explore
and exploit effectively,” the Minister stated. “The Government reduced
the number of licences operated by Petrotrin to six over their core
productive areas. These include Fyzabad, Forest Reserve, Palo Seco,
Penal/ Barrackpore, Catshill, Guayaguayare/ Moruga West fields.
Petrotrin was then given a mandate to optimise production from these
areas.”
He described
the signing ceremony as the first phase in the realisation of this
strategy.
Congratulating Petrotrin for its success in attracting bids to its
offer, Minister Enill said the Government looked forward to a
significant increase in activity and oil production in an area that is
currently full of promise.
He further
promised that the current exploration thrust will be sustained in 2010
with the offer of blocks in the Trinidad and Tobago Deep Atlantic Area
adding that the call for bids would be made at the start of the second
fiscal quarter of 2010. |
