Keeping
gas faith
By Linda Hutchinson-Jafar
Trinidad & Tobago's Newsday
Port
Spain
Petroleumworldtt.com
03 18 07
It
must be welcoming news to the government that BP
Trinidad and Tobago (BPTT) will put two natural
gas fields, Mango and Cashima into production later
this year, to help sustain the critical gas supplies
to meet the increasing domestic and international
needs.
“It
will allow us to maintain a level of production
of about 500,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day,
which is critical to the country’s gas demand
supply balance,” Chief Executive officer of
BP Trinidad and Tobago (BPTT) Robert Riley said
during the launch of two locally-built platforms,
which are named after the fields that are located
offshore south-east.
“As
our existing gas fields decline, we need new ones
to meet the demands of the domestic and Liquefied
Natural Gas markets,” he added. Reserves in
Mango and Cashima amount to two trillion cubic feet
of gas (TCF).
The
two platforms will each have six development wells
initially, with production of around 800 million
cubic feet of gas a day. BPTT, which supplies 60
percent of overall gas supplies to the country and
is part of the global energy company, BP, has already
contracted two rigs from the Global Santa Fe drilling
company, Constellation and Monitor, to drill both
wells.
Output
from the Mango field is expected by September and
from Cashima by October.
The
platforms were simultaneously constructed by the
Trinidad Offshore Fabricators Unlimited (TOFCO),
a joint venture formed in 2004 between locally-owned
Weldfab Limited and a US-based Company, Chet Morrison
Contractors.
Construction
of the Mango platform cost US$350M while Cashima
was built for US$530M. They were BPTT’s second
and third platforms built at TOFCO’s 30-acre
site at the LABIDCO Industrial Estate in La Brea.
In
2001, BPTT undertook the challenging task of having
the first offshore platform, Cannonball, to be designed
and built in the country. According to Riley, who’s
also chairman of the company, Mango will be tied
into the existing Cassia B hub while the more expensive
Cashima which has a much longer pipeline will be
linked to the processing hub at the existing Amherstia
platform.
With
the installation of Cashima, BPTT is taking the
opportunity to initiate a second gas processing
hub, as Amherstia, unlike Cassia B, was not originally
designed as a processing hub.
Conversion
of Amherstia, one of BPTT’s bigger platforms,
will require minimal adjustment and will involve
the installation of a retro-fit riser and an extension
to the deck.
“But
the real significance of this initiative, is the
assurance and reliability a second processing hub
provides,” Riley said, noting that centreing
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, “
Riley said. For further assurance, the multinational
company is already planning a third hub for the
northern part of its acreage.
Having
contributed 60 percent of the fabrication activity
at La Brea, the BPTT CEO said any idea ten years
ago about platforms being built in Trinidad and
Tobago would have been shot down as unrealistic.Keith
Narayansingh, Operations Manager, Fluor Summit said
the successful completion of the two platforms reinforces
the development of a full service project delivery
system in Trinidad and Tobago, from engineering
design through construction.
Fluor
Summit is a strategic alliance between Fluor Corporation,
a US-based Fortune 500 company and Summit Engineering,
a locally owned company.
Narayansingh
noted that detailed engineering design effort on
Mango and Cashima registered an important shift
as locals contributed more than 55 percent of the
total engineering manhours as compared to 36 percent
on the Cannonball platform.
“Supporting
this new industry at Labidco, is an improving engineering
capability which with increasing Trini content is
rapidly approaching Gulf Coast productivity rates
while continuing to diverge below the all in blended
rates that currently apply in the US,” Narayansingh
said.
Design
standardisation principle of repeating the process
and productivity improvements have together accounted
for a reduction in total engineering and procurement
hours on Mango and Cashima platforms of 38 percent
and 61 percent respectively, when compared with
Cannonball.
“
It will be trends in the performance metrics such
as these, which will cause international investors
to continue to put their faith and their business
in the hands of local service providers and to help
build sustainable capability, “ the Fluor
Summit Manager said. La Brea and surrounding communities
are also benefiting from the activities at TOFCO’s
fabrication yard.
According
to a BPTT document, the steady flow of work since
2004 for the construction of offshore platforms
has provided a high level of employment for people
living in the community and nearby villages. It
has also increased business opportunities for small
entrepreneurs, providing support services to the
construction company and its employees.
Clyde
Braithwaite, Foreman and Fabrication at TOFCO said
the experience that welders gained working on the
platforms can now take them anywhere in the world.
Trinidad
& Tobago's Newsday
Thursday 15th March, 2007
Copyright
©2005-2006 Trinidad & Tobago's Newsday.
All Rights Reserved.
