New
investment policy for TT
The Trindad & Tobago Newsday
Port Spain
Petroleumworldtt.com
07 08 07
Ibis Deep might have belly flopped and cost bpTT
US$83M, but this failure should not be a deterrent
to deep drilling, according to Adrian Clark, VP
Developments at bpTT.
There
are also valuable lessons to be learnt from Ibis,
he said in an address at the fourth Geological
Society of Trinidad and Tobago conference, titled, “Caribbean
Exploration – Planning For the Next Century, ” at
the Trinidad Hilton last week.
Clark cited, for instance, transfer of drilling
technology, a new knowledge of deep geology, new
methods of procurement, data acquisition and a
higher level of skill for the country.
A key benefit that came out of the Ibis Deep initiative
was the development of people and the extraordinary
transfer of technology that occurred, particularly
on the drilling side. The conference discussed
matters dealing with petroleum geology, seismology,
biostratigraphy, reservoir and petroleum engineering
and even how geology relates to public policy and
investment.
Should other wells like Ibis be drilled? he asked,
noting many geologists are also planning to drill
deep horizon wells and may be wondering whether
they should recommend this type of exploration
to management.
“If you have studied the prospects carefully
and are reasonably confident about a discovery,
I suggest you go for it,” he said, stressing
that although bpTT was not exploring in 2007, they
planned to return to the deep in future years.
He said if any company in the Trinidad and Tobago
petroleum sector is known for its meticulous exploration
planning, it was bpTT, but that still could not
prevent the commercial failure of Ibis Deep.
Still, Clark said Ibis had its positives. Drilling
engineers in the exploration team were exposed
to new knowledge relating to data acquisition,
well bore stability, high pressure drilling and
for a well like Ibis Deep, procurement of specialised
equipment.
Personnel from the service companies, too, were
also part of the team and all have gained from
the enormous amount of technology transferred,
he said.
Although
the geologists, geophysicists and others in the
exploration performance unit worked night
and day to plan and drill this well down to 19,068
feet, “the hydrocarbons were simply not there,” he
said, noting the absence of hydrocarbon bearing
sands was outside even bpTT’s ability to
control.
But even technology and very sophisticated data
proved not to be enough, he said, noting that geologists
would appreciate that drilling to 19,000 feet was
way beyond what had been accustomed to before.
“You may be asking the question was this
a waste of time and money? Not necessarily, because
we have increased our knowledge of the geology
of the deep horizons and how to drill deep, high
pressure wells,” he said.
“We
ran some of the longest and heaviest casing strings
ever run in Trinidad. We modified
conventional logging tools to handle the high-pressure
environment. We also went the extra mile to drill
this well safely, consistent with a bpTT core value.
Also, the Columbus Basin continues to live up to
its reputation as a cool basin, even at those depths
as Ibis Deep, was not a high temperature well.”
“ At the end of the day, it amounts to a
higher level of skill throughout the Trinidad and
Tobago energy industry, which promotes the advancement
of that industry from an intellectual standpoint,” he
reasoned.
“The fact is,” he added, “without
skills, there would be no petroleum industry in
Trinidad and Tobago and the standard of living
of the people in this country would only be a fraction
of what it is today. We continue to believe that
the development of people is the key to giving
us competitive advantage and sustaining capability
for the entire domestic petroleum industry.”
bpTT, he said, was ensuring it met its contractual
commitments. It now produces around 450,000 barrels
of oil equivalent per day, he said, noting the
plan was to take that to 500,000 boe per day. This,
he added, requires educated people as its primary
ingredient.
He said drilling additional high pressure wells
may not necessarily involve always going as deep
as Ibis: The pressure ramp can be accessed at levels
as high up as 16,000 feet, compared with the 19,000
feet which we encountered in Ibis, he added.
“High pressure wells or not, bpTT will continue
with its exploration programme in the years ahead,” he
said, noting it can reclaim its traditional success
ratio.
That
exploration success sees Trinidad and Tobago
being at the head of the class, he said: The
company’s
performance in the Columbus Basin off the east
coast of Trinidad has traditionally been of the
order of an 80 percent success rate — or
eight out of every ten exploration wells finding
commercial hydrocarbons — way above the global
average of around 15% .
On
future exploration, the company planned to lead
the “Caribbean Exploration” thrust
by probably drilling one exploration well a year
for the next decade, noting it had some deep prospects
included in its current portfolio of about 14 exploration
ventures, including South East Galeota Deep, Amherstia
Deep and Poui Deep. On changes in exploration economics,
he said drilling in their part of the Columbus
Basin will be different in future, going after
smaller structures “since most of the larger
gas reservoirs, by our reckoning, have already
been found.”
But
this imposes on a greater rigour on the company’s
evaluations, he said. “In practice, this
will mean us having to drill a larger number of
wells to prove up the kind of volumes we were able
to identify with fewer wells in the past, which
suggests that the exploration effort will be maintained
at a high level in the foreseeable future.”
The
Trindad & Tobago Newsday
July 2 2007
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©2007 The Trindad & Tobago Newsday . All
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