Going
where no well has ever gone before in TT
By
Louis
B Homer
Trinidad
Express
Port
Spain
Petroleumworld.com
09 10 06
IT
WILL be the deepest well ever drilled in Trinidad-
either on land or offshore.
When it is completed before the
end of the year it will be a milestone achievement,
in many ways, in the country's exploration for gas
and oil.
Aptly named the Ibis Deep, bpTT's
chairman and chief executive officer Robert Riley
has described it as an undertaking that "nobody
has done successfully before, though some have tried."
Located offshore in the South East
Coast Consortium, 35 kilometres southeast of Galeota,
the Ibis Deep is being drilled to a depth of some
3.5 kilometres or two miles.
In Trinidad's 140-year history of
hydrocarbon exploration, it has never seen the likes
of such an event, states bpTT in its most recent
update published in the bpTT Insider.
"If the well is successful
in identifying commercially recoverable hydrocarbons,
EOG Resources Trinidad and Tobago will take over
as operator with a 50.4 per cent share, bp TT will
get 35 per cent for its drilling costs and technical
contribution to the project, and Petrotrin and the
National Gas Company will split the remaining 14.6
per cent of production," states the monthly
publication.
Riley said: "While the well
is not yet completed we are optimistic about the
outcome and expect to announce results of the discovery
by the fourth quarter of this year."
Amal Vittachi of bpTT Exploration
Department said the company decided on the drilling
programme after completion of a seismic data of
4,000 square kilometers in the Columbus Basin.
"We recognised immediately
there was a very good opportunity in the deep, so
we went to EOG and started having discussions about
how we could work together," said Vittachi.
Ibis Deep is being drilled by Global
Santa Fe's Constellation One jack- up rig.
Cost of the project is estimated
to be US$70 million and will take 161 days to reach
the targeted depth of between 18,500 and 20,500
feet.
"This depth makes the Ibis
the deepest vertical well ever drilled in Trinidad
and Tobago," Riley said.
The Ibis Deep is an exploration
joint project involving EOG Resources, National
Gas company, Petrotrin and bpTT.
bpTT was invited to participate
in the project as operator because of BP Group's
experience in drilling deep water wells in high
pressure and high temperature formations.
Drillers are bracing for pressures
that could reach 16,000 pounds per square inch and
temperatures that could be as high as 325 degrees
Fahrenheit.
Vittachi said: "High pressures
can cause a well bore to collapse, resulting in
the loss of the total capital expenditure of some
US$70 million."
Drilling on the Ibis Deep started
on April 14, in a special exploration offshore block
operated by EOG Resources Trinidad and Tobago.
Riley said the Ibis Deep was much
more than only about the discovery of gas or oil,
(gas preferably).
"If all goes according to plans,
this well will create more history by confirming
that there could be in the future a series of discoveries
at depths never before contemplated in Trinidad
and Tobago," he said.
bpTT already is developing a number
of other deep wells so the success of Ibis Deep
will prompt other companies to develop activities
similar to what is taking place in the Columbus
Basin.
Riley said bpTT already has a 60
per cent exploration success rate, one of the best
in the world.
Ibis Deep has caused interest in
many quarters, including visits by Prime Minister
Patrick Manning and Energy Minister Lenny Saith.
Manning visited the well in June
for a first hand look at what was taking place.
Trinidad Express
Wednesday, September 6th 2006
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©2006 Trinidad Express . All Rights Reserved.
