BpTT
launches gas platforms
The Trinidad Guardian
Port
Spain
Petroleumworldtt.com
03 04 07
BpTT's
Mango and Cashima platforms are expected to produce
two trillion cubic feet of natural gas over the
next ten years.
This
production level will give bpTT the capacity to
sustain its gas production at the level of 500,000
barrels-a-day of oil equivalent, said chairman and
chief executive Robert Riley as he formally commissioned
the platforms at a function at the Hilton Trinidad
and Conference Centre yesterday.
Mango
and Cashima will therefore also be serving the national
need for gas production to support planned-for down-stream
industries," he said.
Riley
said the production from Mango and Cashima, which
were locally constructed by Tofco at Union Estate
in La Brea, is expected by late 2007.
The
commissioning comes after the company’s US
$500 million Ibis Deep well turned up dry last year,
which some analysts believe put a spoke in the wheel
of Government’s plans for energy projects.
The
first gas output from Mango is expected by September
2007 and from Cashima by October 2007 and will add
1.5 billion standard cubic feet a day of gas to
the national output.
Mango
and Cashima are intended, of course, for the production
of natural gas from fields of the same names. As
our existing gas fields decline, we need new ones
to meet the demands of the domestic and LNG markets,"
he noted.
Reserves
in Mango and Cashima have been earmarked for that
purpose, amounting roughly to about three trillion
cubic feet- both platforms will each have six development
wells initially, with production of around 800 million
cubic feet a day each," he said.
Riley
said construction cost of Mango was US$350 million,
while Cashima, which has a longer pipeline to its
processing hub at the existing Amherstia platform,
will come out at around US$530 million.
Riley
explained that two contract rigs, Constellation
and Monitor, will be drilling the Mango and Cashima
wells, respectively. Cashima was designed to send
its gas to a new hub at Amherstia.
Centering
gas production around a single processing hub has
always had its risks. With Amherstia joining the
Cassia B as an additional one billion cubic feet
a day hub, we will now have much greater flexibility
to manage any operational hiccups that may develop
in the future," said Riley.
By
building the Mango and Cashima simultaneously, we
believe we have helped to accelerate the learning
process among all concerned. When you move seamlessly
from one project to another you tend to capture
the lessons better. It's al about efficiency and
getting to the point where productivity becomes
optimal," he said.
Trinidad Guardian
Friday 2nd March, 2007
Copyright
©2007 Trinidad Guardian. All Rights Reserved.
