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Exploration and Production - Upstream Business

The Exploration and Production (E&P) Division forms the upstream business of Petrotrin and comprises three (3) main functions as follows:

	Exploration and Development
	Production Operations including Land, North and East Coast Operations and Trinmar Operations
	Joint Venture Operations

The Exploration and Development sub-division (E&D) is responsible for growth opportunities for the upstream business by providing the technical expertise for economically increasing oil and gas production and finding new reserves. This sub-division is also focused on improving reservoir and operational efficiency, including expansion and optimization of Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) projects.

The E&P Production Operations sub-division is charged with the responsibility of optimising returns from our producing assets including the Land, Galeota and Trinmar assets. at optimal operating cost in conformance with acceptable Health, Safety & Environment (HSE) practices, standards and legislation.  

The Joint Venture Operations sub-division monitors the performance and manages the contracts for the assets operated by Joint Venture (JV), Lease Operatorship (LO) and Farmout partners and seeks new upstream business opportunities for growth.

E&P conducts exploration, development and production activities through these three (3) functions and engages in the exploration for and production of crude oil and natural gas onshore in Trinidad and offshore the southwest, southeast and north coasts of Trinidad.  The land acreage spans the southern half of the island. Total acreage operated is approximately 1.9 million acres. Some of these activities are conducted via the JV, LO and FO operators.

The following map above shows the areas of operation.
 

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Equity Production

Equity oil and gas production for 2005/2006 averaged 59,405 barrels of oil per day (BOPD) and 142.4million cubic feet per day (MMCFD) and total oil and gas of 83,965 barrels oil equivalent per day (BOEPD). Average production by areas is shown below for the years 2004/2005 and 2005/2006.


 

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Proved Reserves

Proved oil and gas reserves are 424.3 million barrels of oil and 659.3 billion cubic feet of gas respectively.  Proved oil and gas reserves at the end of fiscal years 2004/2005 and 2005/2006 are summarised below.

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Scope of Operations

The E&P operations cover a wide range of activities and include the following:

	Exploration activities: Seismic acquisition and processing, technical studies, exploration drilling
	Land Production
	– Crude oil and natural gas production – Primary production – Enhanced Oil Recovery: Steamflooding, Waterflooding, CO2 injection
	Offshore Production - Trinmar, Galeota
	– Primary oil production, Waterflooding
	Lease Operatorships and Farmouts
	Joint Ventures:
	– Land and nearshore – Offshore:Natural gas, oil and condensate production
	Operations Support Services:
	– Drilling, well servicing, maintenance, labs
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Joint Ventures

In addition to our own operated fields, Petrotrin also has equity in several blocks with other partners. These joint venture blocks are operated by the partner, except in the case of Trintomar where Petrotrin is the operator. JV arrangements have been used by the Company as a mechanism for increasing exploration and development activity while reducing the risk to Petrotrin. Also, joint venture is used as a mechanism for accessing technical expertise and transfer of technology to our employees. Typically, in the blocks where Petrotrin had the licence prior to the JV, Petrotrin is carried through the exploration phase and pays its share of cost from the development phase.

Our equity production from joint ventures for 2005/2006 was 4,177 BPD oil and 115.6 MMCFD gas, including our Trintomar equity. The following table give a summary of our joint venture participation.
 

Lease Operatorships

In 1989, Petrotrin, through its predecessor companies, introduced the lease operatorship programme for reactivation of idle wells. In this programme, contractors sub-lease small blocks of idle or marginal wells and are allowed to earn revenues from the sale of crude produced from reactivation and production of these wells. Petroleum rights have generally been limited to primary production but the contractors are allowed to drill replacement wells. Petrotrin derives an overriding royalty from the produced crude which is sold to the company’s refinery. Oil and gas reserves are booked by Petrotrin.

Currently twenty five Lease Operatorship blocks produce 4,500 BOPD from 700+ active wells of a total of over 2,800 leased wells. Cumulative oil production to date from this programme is over 16.0 million barrels.
 

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Farmouts

The farmout programme was introduced in 1991 for the exploration and exploitation of small inactive blocks. In this programme the full acreage within the block is leased to the farmout operator who has unlimited rights to petroleum from the block. The farmout operator is committed to a work programme which includes exploration and development drilling and, more recently, the acquisition of seismic data. The operator is free to pursue enhanced oil recovery opportunities. Reserves are booked by the operator who earns revenues from the sale of crude. Petrotrin derives revenues from overriding royalties. To date, eleven (11) farmout blocks have been awarded of which eight (8) are active and the other three (3) have not yet started production.

Currently the nine (9) FO blocks blocks produce 1,640 BOPD from 320 wells including the Brighton Marine near-shore block which was converted from a joint venture to a farmout.
 

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