Energy
giants shun oil blocks
By Gregory Lal-Beharie
Trinidad Express
Port
Spain
Petroleumworldtt.com
12 17 06
Energy giants have shied away from bidding on several
blocks of potential oil and gas wells off Trinidad's
east coast.
As
boxes containing bids for the eight blocks were
opened on Friday afternoon, only one company, Norway's
Statoil, showed interest by submitting a bid.
The
Energy and Energy Industries Ministry had been optimistic
that several large oil and gas exploration companies,
including BHP Billiton, Repsol, Total and others
would have been interested in the eight blocks of
ocean floor named TDAA1 to TDAA8.
The
eight blocks are situated in waters ranging from
1.7 kilometres to three kilometres deep, each comprising
a parcel of approximately 80,000 hectares.
The
Energy Ministry said ENI, BP International, EOG
Resources, Norsk Hydro Trinidad, Phillips Petroleum
T&T, PDVSA Petroleo, Talisman Energy, Trinidad
Shell Exploration, Kerr McGee/Anarkado, BGTT, Chevron
Texaco, Amerada Hess, and Statoil had all expressed
interest in the deep Atlantic blocks and were invited
to tender.
The
prospective bidders were offered 2D seismic surveys
conducted in 2002, and other data acquired "speculative
basis by GX Technology" and a Piston Core Survey
by TDI Brooks, according to the Energy Ministry's
director - resource management division Helena Inniss-King.
The
tender had been open since May 8 this year, with
a deadline of August 28. The submission date was
later pushed back twice, first to October 30, then
to yesterday.
As
Inniss-King opened the boxes, they remained empty
until TDAA 5, which contained Statoil (UK) Ltd's
bid. The other boxes were also empty.
Statoil
had paid the required pre-bid application fee of
US$800,000, plus an additional non-refundable bid
fee of US$50,000.
Gareth
Burns, a Statoil representative at the bid opening,
said their bid "was not without risk and hoped
they could give something to Statoil and Trinidad
and Tobago".
Burns
said Statoil singled out TDAA 5 because it appears
to be the block with the "most potential".
Burns
said Statoil had drilled up to three kilometres
at other locations and would have no problem at
their selected block.
Statoil
does not automatically qualify for TDAA 5, however,
as Government must now evaluate the lone bid. An
announcement is expected sometime before March 31,
2007.
Inniss-King
told reporters that she was not disappointed by
the poor interest shown by the invited companies.
"We need to examine what has happened now,
and plan for the future."
Trinidad
Express
Saturday, December 16th 2006
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©2006 Trinidad Express. All Rights Reserved.
